Always Love
by othlove419
Summary: It's sophomore year at Duke University. They meet by accident once and he's hooked. Was it fate or just an accident?
1. Addicted

**I got this idea and I couldn't wait to write it. I hope you guys like it. It's going to be different then my other story. Plese review and let me know what you think.**

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The end of the week and the beginning of the weekend. Today was Friday and to her it meant that the first week of classes were over. It was her sophomore year at Duke University, classes had officially started a mere five days ago and she was already being piled with assignments to do from her professors. She expected it though. College classes were tough and she was taking two more than she actually needed. Ever since she was a little girl she had loved school.

She loved her roommate, she was a really cool girl, even if they weren't there at the same time that much so far, but it was only the first week so they would being seeing a lot more of each other. She couldn't explain how happy she was that she liked her roommate, the last thing she wanted was to room with someone that she couldn't stand. Last year it was like she didn't even have a roommate, just the stuff that came with the girl. The girl was basically never in the dorm.

The day before she had finally finished unpacking all of her belongings so she was free to spend the weekend however she wanted. She had completed some of her class assignments already and the rest of them were first on her to-do list. She always wanted to get her school work done before she did anything else so that she wasn't worrying about getting it done constantly.

Walking into her dorm room after a long day of classes, she was so hungry. She was pretty sure that anyone within the floor of her dorm room could practically hear her stomach growling. Looking into the miniature refrigerator, she saw there wasn't anything that could count as dinner. Actually, there wasn't anything in the whole room that would be considered dinner. Her and her roommate seriously needed to stock their room with food.

She sighed, contemplating on whether to call for pizza or drive over to the grocery store that wasn't really that far away. Thinking to herself, she remembered that her and her roommate had ordered pizza two nights ago, she wasn't really in the mood for it again. So it was decided, the grocery store it was.

Ten minutes later she was making her way through the automatic sliding doors of the store. Figuring that she wasn't planning on buying too much, she had opted for a small green basket instead of a big, regular, metal cart. As she was passing the magazine racks she noticed the newest issue of People and tossed it into the basket. She would never admit it out loud, but celebrity gossip was one of guilty pleasures. She couldn't help but be interested in what was going in the celebrity world.

She continued down the isles an added two boxes of macaroni and cheese into her cart. Macaroni and cheese was her favorite food ever. It was the food of the gods as she like to say. All of her friends made fun of her and told her that she shared her favorite food with a bunch of five year olds, but she didn't care, it tasted so good and that was what mattered.

She could hear her cell phone ringing from inside her purse. She tried to attempt to fetch the obnoxiously ringing phone while still walking around the store. Where the hell was the phone? It had to be in her purse somewhere. Her being the klutz that she is, found her self running smack into something. She fell to the ground, the contents of her purse laying across the grocery store isle along with the items in her basket. She quietly cursed at the situation when she noticed two feet standing right in front of her. Looking up she saw a tall guy with dark hair and pretty blue eyes, dressed in black shorts that reminded her of what her older brothers wore while playing basketball and a red sweatshirt. Looking around she noticed that he was the something she ran into. He felt like a brick wall.

Taking her lower lip in between her teeth, she ran a hand through her long, curly, auburn locks of hair, staring at the guy who caused her to be on the ground in the first place. She shook her head and sat on her knees before beginning to place some of her belongings back into her purse. After putting the magazine, mac and cheese, and her purse in the basket, she stood up. "I am so sorry about that. I'm such a klutz and my phone was ringing, speaking of my phone I think I lost it, but anyway I'm really sorry even though it doesn't look like I had as much as an effect on you as you did to me considering I was the one on the floor. I'm just going to stop talking now. I tend to ramble a lot. Stopping now." She said the stranger that still stood in front of her.

He smirked at her before sticking out his hand holding a cell phone in it. "You mean this phone? It's not lost. Oh, and I think you're missing something else too." He said while showing her the lip gloss tube he had picked up.

After his last class that day he had decided to head out for a run. He usually ran in the mornings, but today he had two early classes, therefore he just went later that day. He had been running for a while when he saw the grocery store and went it. He wanted to get some Gatorade. While he was walking through the store, looking for the isle that contained the fruity drinks, someone ran into him.

"Yeah, that phone. Thanks." She said before taking her two possessions and tossing them into her purse. She hadn't even noticed that he bent down to pick up any of her stuff from off of the floor.

"So are you sure you didn't do that on purpose? You know, to get an autograph or something?" He smirked again.

"Um, no, not really. Why would I want your autograph anyway, I don't even know who you are." She said to him. This guy was so cocky. Did he actually think that she ran into people she didn't even know on purpose? She didn't want some strangers autograph. Besides, you only get autographs from the famous celebrities like in the magazines.

"I'm Nathan Scott." He said simply as if that made everything make so much more sense.

"Okay, that's very nice, but what exactly does that have to do with me wanting your autograph? I don't know a Nathan Scott." She was so confused at this point.

"I'm only the star player of the varsity basketball team at Duke. I would think you would know who I am seeing as you're wearing a Duke sweatshirt." Nathan explained to the petite girl standing in front of him. Did this girl seriously not know who he was? Everyone at school and even people who didn't go to the school knew who he was. What, did she live under a rock or something?

She looked down and sure enough she was wearing her gray Duke University sweatshirt with a pair of jeans tucked into her chestnut Ugg boots. "Uh, yeah, I go to Duke, but I'm not really that big on sports. I have really have to go now, but you can keep the autograph. Bye, Nathan Scott." She said to him.

He was shocked, usually girls were throwing themselves at him. This girl was different, she didn't even seem interested at all. Not even one bit. That was okay though, because he liked a challenge. "Wait, what's your name?"

She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't give strangers my name. You could be a killer, for all I know."

"I promise that I'm not going to kill you. Come on, it's only fair that you tell me. I told you mine, remember." He said to her.

"Yeah, I know, but I also know I didn't ask to know your name, you just told me." She said as she started to turn around and walk away. "Thanks for my phone and lip gloss, by the way." Once she got to the end of the isle she spun around to see him still standing there and uttered one single word before completely walking away. All she said was "Haley."

Haley. That had to be her name, right? Why else would she have said it? He was intrigued. This girl was definitely different then most of the girls he knew. All of the other girls were so fake looking and had fake personalities. They threw themselves at him due to his reputation and his social status, yet this girl had never even heard his name before. She looked different than the other girls too. She was really pretty with her big brown eyes and long auburn colored hair, but she didn't act as if she knew how pretty she really was. It was natural and she didn't try too hard. She was dressed in the simplest of clothing, but somehow it suited her and he didn't even know her, but he did know that he wanted to see her again. How was he going to find her though? Duke was a pretty big school and there were plenty of girls around with long blondish hair wearing Duke sweatshirts. He wished he had a last name, but then again how many people named Haley could possibly go to the school? He was going to find her. He had to because he was hooked.

Nathan was sitting on his bed playing NBA Live while he waited for his roommate to get back. As if on cue, he walked through the door about two minutes later. The door opened and in walked a tall, sandy blonde haired guy. His roommate was better known as Lucas Scott or Nathan's brother. They were twins, but they were as different as day and night. Their only similar trait were their pretty blue eyes. They were both tall, but Nathan was taller and had a more muscular build to him, thanks to all the hours he spent inside of the gym working out. Lucas had blond hair and Nathan had dark raven hair. Lucas was more sensitive and intellectual than his slightly younger brother. They both shared a love for basketball, but Nathan loved it more. Lucas wasn't into having basketball as his way of living, he wanted to be a writer. He only played the game for fun. Nathan had always dreamed of playing college basketball and getting drafted to play in the NBA. Without basketball, Nathan never would have gotten into Duke University anyway. Sadly, it was the only reason he was there. He didn't have the grades in high school to get him into college, but after coming here the university told him he needed to keep his grades average and play ball good if he wanted to keep his scholarship.

"Hey Nate, what's up?" Lucas asked his brother. It was Friday and there was no basketball this weekend so he was guessing that there was a party they would end up going to tonight.

"Nothing." Nathan responded as he turned off his current game of NBA Live to talk to his brother. "There's a party tonight. You in?"

"Yeah. There's nothing else to do, right?" He asked. His girlfriend told him to meet her their later anyway.

"Right. So do you know a girl that goes here named Haley?" Nathan asked. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since he ran into her earlier that day in the grocery store. He didn't know what was going on with him because he never thought about one particular girl this much before. This was crazy.

"I don't think so. Why?"

"No reason." Nathan tried to brush it off.

"What? Then why did you ask me to begin with? What's the real reason?" Lucas interrogated.

"I was in the grocery store-"

Lucas cut him off laughing. "You were in the grocery store? Why?"

"I went running and I wanted Gatorade. Why is me going to the grocery store so funny?"

"Because you never go. Mom always drives down once a months and brings us bags full of food." Lucas explained.

"Whatever, Lucas. That doesn't matter. So, when I was there looking for Gatorade some girl full on crashed into me. It wasn't just like she bumped into me, she ran into me, falling to the ground and her stuff going everywhere. So, after she stood up and I asked her if did it to get an autograph. I was kidding." He added when he saw the look on his brother's face. "Kind of, but she didn't even know who I was and then she wouldn't tell me her name. I don't know, she was just really interesting and pretty and a regular person. She wasn't throwing herself at me. She was different, but before she left she said Haley, so I'm guessing that was her name. She has long blondish hair and brown eyes and was wearing a gray Duke sweatshirt. Do you know her?" Nathan finished.

"Dude, do you know how many girls there are that have long blonde hair and brown eyes at this school?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, but how many girls named Haley can there be?"

"I don't know and I don't know any girls named Haley either. So, you want to her find her because she didn't throw herself at you and want your autograph?" Lucas asked trying to make sense out of the situation.

"No. Maybe. I don't know. I just want to find her. She's different than all the other girls around here." Nathan tried explaining to Lucas.

"Sorry, I can't help you man. Let's go the party. Maybe she'll be there." Lucas suggested.

The party was packed with people everywhere. The music was so loud you could barely hear yourself think and that was just the way she liked it. She loved parties, they were always so much fun. Her and her new found friend were making their way around the house. They had met a couple days ago in one of their classes. They were sitting next to each other and didn't think that they would get along at all. They had entirely different personalities, but they ended up talking and both realized that the other girl was actually pretty nice.

"So who are we looking for again?" The blonde asked her new friend over the music. She had said they were meeting someone here, but she couldn't remember who.

"My boyfriend. He's tall, blonde, and plays basketball. You know Lucas Scott?" The other girl answered.

"I know of him, but I don't see him. Are you sure that we are meeting him at this party?"

"Yes." Her new friend answered. "There he is." She exclaimed grabbing her friend's hand and pulling her towards her boyfriend.

"Lucas!" She yelled so he could hear her over the music. He turned around to see who was calling his name and saw his girlfriend with a girl he didn't know. After greeting her boyfriend and his twin brother she introduced her newest friend.

"Lucas, Nathan, this is my new best friend, Peyton Sawyer. Peyton, this is my boyfriend, Lucas Scott and his twin brother, Nathan Scott."

They all exchanged hello's and started talking about their classes this year. It turns out Peyton had transferred from another school this year and was a new student.

"So this is your first year here?" Lucas asked her.

"Yeah, but I like it here so far. The classes are nice and so are the people. I have a really cool roommate too." Peyton explained.

"Why didn't your roommate want to come to the party with us?" Brooke asked.

"Uh, she wasn't home when I got there. I left her a note to come later and find us." Peyton said.

"Oh good, I can't wait to meet her." Brooke said excitedly.

About an hour later the four of them were in the kitchen talking. Nathan was sick of being here. He looked everywhere for the girl in the grocery store, but she wasn't there anywhere. He had been discretely looking all night. He thought about asking some people if they knew her, but thought that maybe he would sound a little bit like a creepy stalker and quickly decided against that. This party sucked. He just wanted to leave, which was out of the ordinary for him because last year he practically had to be dragged away from the party scene.

After going back home and making herself a bowl of macaroni and cheese and watching some television she had completed the rest of her class assignments. She noticed her roommate still wasn't back from the party she had went to. When she got back to her dorm room there was a purple post-it on the refrigerator telling her that her roommate went to a party with a friend she met in class and that she should come and meet up with them later. She thought about and figured she didn't have anything else to do. She wasn't really that big into the partying. She went to a few last year, but they had never really been that appealing to her. She would much rather be with just a few of her friends instead of guzzling alcohol with people she didn't even know.

She didn't even bother changing because she wasn't planning on staying long. She was just going to show up, stay for a little bit after finding her roommate, and then leave. She put her cell phone in the back pocket of her jeans and grabbed her keys before leaving the dorm and getting into her car.

Once she parked her car and walked into the house she figured it would be impossible to ever find her roommate. The house was so crowded. She didn't even think there was enough room for her to move around in there, but then again what did she expect, it was the weekend after the first week of classes.

Making her way into the kitchen she saw the curly blonde hair of her roommate, Peyton. "Hey Peyton." She said greeting her.

"Hey, Haley, you made it. Haley this is my new friend, Brooke Davis and her boyfriend, Lucas Scott." Peyton introduced Haley to the people she was talking to.

"Hi, I'm Haley James." Haley said shaking both of their hands.

"You're Haley? I'm so happy to meet you. Me, you, and Peyton are all going to be best friends. Isn't this going to be great? I know, we should all go shopping tomorrow. I'll pick you girls up tomorrow at ten in the morning. Sounds fun, right?" Brooke said to Haley.

"Um, yeah, I guess that would be okay." Haley said while looking at Peyton, who just shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Wait, you said your name is Haley?" Lucas asked her. Wasn't that the name of the girl his brother wanted to find? She had blonde hair and was wearing a Duke sweatshirt. This was the girl. Too bad his brother had left the party ten minutes ago claiming he was tired of being there and had better things to do. Lucas told him she might have been at the party and Nathan insisted she wasn't there, but here she was.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, um, I was just checking." He lied. "I didn't want to end up calling you the wrong name, like Holly or something." He made up off the top of his head as Brooke gave him a weird look.

"Oh, um, okay." Haley said.

"I'll be right back." Lucas excused himself from the three girls. He had a phone call he had to make. He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts list searching for Nathan. After the third ring, Nathan finally picked up.

"Hello." He answered.

"Nate, you're never going to believe this."

"What?"

"I think the girl from the store is here." Lucas told him.

"What? How would you know if it was her or not?"

"Because Peyton's roommate finally decided to show up. Guess what, she's blonde, wearing a Duke sweatshirt, and her name just so happens to be Haley. It has to be her, right?"

"Does she have brown eyes too?" Nathan asked. He couldn't stop thinking about those brown eyes.

"I don't know. Maybe she does. Are you going to come back?" Lucas asked his brother.

"Yeah, I'm on way." Nathan said and hung up, rushing out of the dorm and heading back to the party he was previously at. He just hoped that she was still there when he got there.


	2. Meeting You

**Here's the next update. Thanks for all the reviews. I'm going away for a few days, but when I get back I'll get the next chapter for this story and my other story up. Thanks. Please review!**

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Nathan made his was to his car after getting the phone call from his brother. He considered not going back to the party, but he seriously couldn't get this girl off of his mind. He had never been in this situation before. He was never hung up on one specific girl before. That was something his brother did. Especially a girl he hardly even know. He liked the fact that she was different though and he guess that was why he kept thinking about her.

Ten minutes later he was pulling up to the party he had just left. He got out of the car and walked in the door. He looked around, but couldn't see Lucas anywhere. Maybe he was still in the kitchen with Brooke and her friend. Hopefully the girl was there too.

Nathan walked into the kitchen and sure enough there was his brother, Brooke, and Peyton, but the girl was not there. He was going to kill his brother if he made this whole thing up. He walked over to them.

"Nathan, you came back?" Brooke asked him. Why did he leave in the first place if he was just going to come back not even a half an hour later.

She never could figure that boy out. It didn't matter how long she had known him, he was always a mystery to her. Brooke had known the Scott boys since middle school. She lived in California up until she was thirteen years old. Her dad got a job transfer to North Carolina, so the Davis' packed up their belongings and moved across the country. They ended up in the small town of Tree Hill. That was when Brooke met the Scott boys. Her and Lucas didn't start dating until their junior year of high school though. It was an on and off again relationship during their last two years of high school. They broke before senior year was over and didn't start dating again until the middle of their freshman year at Duke.

"Uh, yeah." He answered Brooke before turning to his brother. "Lucas, I need to talk to you."

"I'll be right back." Lucas said and followed his brother out front so they could talk somewhere a little quieter.

"I thought you said she was here. I don't see her." Nathan said as soon as they reached the front yard.

"Nate, relax. She is here. She was talking with us, but then her phone rang and she went out back to go answer it." Lucas explained to his brother. He had never seen Nathan like this about any girl before. He actually seemed interested in this girl, instead of just wanting to sleep with her and find someone new. He wondered if his brother would ever stop his meaningless hook-ups and change his ways.

"Okay. I'm going to go find her. See if she knows who I am this time." Nathan tried to joke.

"I'll be inside if you need me." Lucas told him before heading back into the house where his girlfriend was talking with the new girl, Peyton Sawyer. Lucas didn't really like Peyton when he first met her, but after talking to her a little more he lightened up and was starting to see she was pretty cool, especially if he needed advice on music. The girl was like a music encyclopedia.

Nathan stood there for a moment longer before walking around the side of the house to get to the back where he was informed the grocery store girl was. As he made his way back there he could hear someone talking, but no one seemed to be answering them. That was when he remembered Lucas saying she got a phone call and that was why she had went back there in the first place.

"I can't come visit you. School just started this week, I can't skip the second week of school." She said into her cell phone. He was curious as to who she might be talking to.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not skipping school so I can come visit you while you have school. How fair is that?" She said into her phone again. He hadn't intended on eavesdropping on her conversation, it just kind of happened and now he was interested in what was being said on the other side of the conversation and who was saying it.

"No...I know...I can't...I said I was sorry...I miss you too...Okay...I promise...Okay...Bye." She said and hung up the phone. She sat down on the ground and tossed her phone in front of her. She then proceeded to sigh and run a hand through her long, honey colored hair, the same way she did when she had fallen at the grocery store.

He just stood there watching her for a few moments longer. Nathan walked over to her and sat down next to her. "You look like you could use a drink right about now." He said to her.

She turned her head to see who it was that sat down next to her and started talking. She starting smiled when she realized that he was the same guy at the grocery store who thought that she ran into him on purpose. "What are you doing, stalking me or something?" She questioned him.

"Nah, just thought that maybe you might have changed your mind about wanting that autograph." He spoke.

She laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, Hot Shot." She said.

"Well at least we know you aren't blind."

She made a face. "What?"

"You called me hot, so it's safe to say you can see clearly." He told her.

"Congratulations, I think you have the biggest ego I have ever met." She said to him. He was really attractive, not that she would ever tell him that. It would only inflate his ego more and in her opinion of him so far, he didn't really need a bigger ego.

"Hey, I'm confident. That's good self-esteem." He said to her.

She laughed again. "What's your name again?" She asked him.

"Are you telling me you seriously don't know me? For real, in the grocery store and now?" He asked in complete shock. He had thought of the possibility that maybe she had been joking about not knowing him. After all, she did say that she went to this school.

"No. I really have no clue who you are. Are you really that important?"

"Are you sure you go to this school because I play basketball here. Everyone knows me." He stated matter of factly.

"I don't really pay attention to sports. I actually focus on my schoolwork." She told him.

"Do you like live under a rock or something?" He asked her. "You never even heard anyone talk about me?"

She started laughing hysterically. "Did you just ask me if I lived under a rock? What is this Spongebob?"

Then he started laughing. "No. So you already know that I'm Nathan Scott, but your name is..."

"Haley James." She said and stuck out her hand for him to shake.

He shook her hand and both of them felt a jolt of electricity run through their bodies. They let the other person's hand go and looked at each other for a minute, wondering if the other had felt the same thing they just did.

"Do you want to go inside and get a drink?" Nathan asked her. He remembered her looking like she needed one after ending her mysterious phone call, which he was still curious about.

"Um, that sounds great, but I'm actually going to get going and I'm driving so I'm going to have take a rain check." Haley told him. "Another time?" She asked.

"Definitely." He told her and picked up her phone off the ground. He dialed his number and hung up, handing her phone to her. "Thanks for your number." He said before walking away.

Haley looked at her phone her phone for a little bit before it started beeping. A new text message. She flipped it open and looked at the familiar name and number before reading the message that simply said 'I'm sorry. Love you.'

She flipped the phone shut and shoved it back into her pocket. Haley walked to her car and started making her way back to her dorm. She was tired and planned on going straight to sleep once she go there.

Nathan walked back into the house. His brother was sitting down talking to Brooke. Brooke's friend, Peyton, must have left because he didn't see her near them anywhere. He walked over to them and sat down next to Lucas.

"Nathan, where the hell have you been? You like disappeared." Brooke said.

"I was outside." Nathan said vaguely.

Lucas looked at him. "Did you find her?" He asked. He was curious as to what happened with Nathan and his mystery girl.

"Yeah." He said shortly.

"And..." Lucas said letting Nathan know that he wanted him to continue with what happened.

"And we talked. I called myself from her phone, so I have her number now." Nathan told his brother.

"Her who?" Brooke asked. She was very interested when it came to the girls that Nathan went after. In Brooke's word he only went after sluts and that was only to sleep with him. She constantly told him to stop and date nice girls. Brooke was always wanting to set him up on actual dates with girls she knew, but he always refused saying that he was fine with what he was doing and she should mind her own business. They were like brother and sister. They fought constantly, but in the end they cared about the other person in a platonic only way.

"Her, Peyton's roommate." Lucas answered for Nathan.

"What about Haley?" Brooke asked. Her interest was officially sparked. Once that happened it was pretty much impossible to get her to leave the subject alone.

"Nathan has a crush on her." Lucas explained to his girlfriend.

"Lucas, shut up, man." Nathan told his brother as he punched his arm.

"Aw, Nathan, that is so cute." Brooke cooed. "You deserve a good girl and not some skanky ho." She told him. "Besides, Haley's cute." She added.

"Stop, Brooke. Leave it alone." He told her. He was going to kill Lucas. Nathan didn't need Brooke butting into his love life. It was his business if he like Haley or not and Brooke love to try and play matchmaker. That had never turned out good for him. He refused for Brooke to be involved.

"Okay, but maybe I can set you and Haley up on a date." Brooke mentioned.

"Brooke, no. Forget about it." He told her sternly.

"Forgetting. You know, I'm going shopping tomorrow with Peyton and Haley. I could put in a good word for you and see what she thinks about you." Brooke tried one more time. She loved getting involved in other people's love lives.

"Brooke, don't say anything, okay?" He asked her, but they both knew he wasn't actually asking her and he was telling her.

"Whatever you say, Nathan." She agreed even though she had other plans for tomorrow morning during their shopping trip.

Nathan looked at her suspiciously before telling her and Lucas goodbye. He got into his car and went back to the dorm once again. The only thing different this time was that he had a smile on face. He thought back to his conversation with Haley. She seemed like a lot of fun and for once he actually wanted to get to know her better instead of just wanting to sleep with her and then make her leave. This girl brought out a whole other side to Nathan and she didn't even know it. She didn't even know him, really. Hell, he hardly knew her, but he could change that and he planned on changing it. He stole her cell phone number, so he could call her whenever he pleased.

Haley walked into the dorm building and walked up the two flights of stairs to her room. Dorm number twenty-five. She unlocked the door, already knowing it was going to be empty. Peyton was still at the party when Haley left. Actually, Haley had forgotten to tell Peyton she was leaving. Oops. She shut the door and put her cell phone and keys on the table her and Peyton shared. It wasn't a big table, but it worked with their space. After changing into a pair of sweatpants she laid on her bed and turned the tv on.

She thought about the events of that day. How weird was it that she ran into that guy twice? One time she actually literally ran into him. Even though he had a huge, way too inflated, ego he seemed like so much fun. She thought it was funny how he didn't even bother asking for her number, he just took her phone and called himself. He was so cocky, but it was kind of cute in a weird way.

She cursed to herself. She wasn't supposed to be thinking about other guys. She had a boyfriend. Haley sighed thinking about her boyfriend. He went to school in New York at New York University and she went to school in North Carolina at Duke. As she thought about it, she realized it could be worse, they could be going to different schools across the country. It wasn't like it would make a difference. She didn't see him anyway.

They started dating the summer before freshman year of college. They went to the same high school, but never had feelings for each other before. They did the whole long distance relationship last year and personally, Haley hated it. It was stupid. They never got to see each other. The summer before college was so good, but then a couple months after college started their relationship got harder. It wasn't like she expected it to be easy, but she didn't expect it to be this hard to be in a long distance relationship. They basically only saw each other around Christmas time and that was only like two or three times because they were so busy spending time with their families for the holidays.

Their relationship was really stressful. Even when she went back home to California for the summer before sophomore year, he only came back for a couple of weeks at time. She sometimes doubted their relationship and doubted him. Sometimes she felt insecure about it all. Haley hated it. She didn't want to feel that way. She wished she didn't, but she couldn't help it.

Whenever she doubted her relationship she would ask herself why she stayed in it and then she would tell herself it was because she was in love with him and he loved her. Recently, if she was truly honest with herself, she wasn't so sure she was in love with him anymore. She still loved him, but she just wasn't in love with him. It didn't help that they were always fighting. They were such a disaster. She didn't know why she kept putting herself through this.

She didn't want to think about this anymore. She turned off the tv and closed her eyes. Within minutes she had drifted off to sleep.

"Haley, wake up." She heard someone say to her. Haley opened her eyes and saw Peyton standing over her bed already dressed for the day. "Brooke's going to be here in about and hour. We're going shopping with her this morning, remember?"

Haley nodded her head and threw the comforter off of her. She got up and went to take a quick shower. After blow drying her hair she got dressed. She wasn't sure what to expect from this shopping trip. She wasn't really sure what to expect from Brooke either. They had only talked for like a whole two minutes.

Fifteen minutes there was a knock at the door and Peyton and Haley were following Brooke to her car.

They pulled up to the mall to begin their Saturday morning shopping adventure. This was going to be interesting.

They had been shopping for two hours and Haley was having a good time. She liked hanging out with Peyton and Brooke. She was glad she came.

"So Haley, I heard you met my boyfriend's brother last night?" Brooke asked.

"That depends. Who's your boyfriend's brother?" She asked.

"Nathan Scott. My boyfriend is Lucas Scott. I actually grew up with them." Brooke informed her.

"Yeah, I sort of met him twice yesterday." Haley admitted.

"Oh yeah, we heard about that. The grocery store incident, right?"

"Right."

"So, what do you think of Nathan."

"Um, I'm not sure. I don't really know him. I just met him and before yesterday I had no clue who he was." Haley said.

"Well, you can get to know him better because we're friends now and you're going to hang out with me, therefore, you hang out with Nathan." Brooke told her.

"If you say so." Haley replied. "So, Peyton, when are we going to go find a decent music store near campus?" Haley and Peyton learned that was one of the major things that they had in common. Haley secretly loved to sing, but she never admitted it. She just stuck to saying that she just love music in general.

Later that day she was sitting at her computer writing a paper. She couldn't help but secretly hope that Nathan would've called her, but he didn't. She didn't even know when she was going to see him again. At least if she hung out with Brooke more she had a better chance of seeing him.

Her cell phone started ringing as if on cue. She checked her phone thinking that maybe it was a number she didn't know because then there was the chance it was Nathan. It wasn't. It was her boyfriend. Was it wrong that she felt a twinge of disappointment that it wasn't an unknown number? She didn't answer. She couldn't bring herself to answer.

She didn't even know Nathan and yet here she was wanting him to call her, but she was supposed to be in love with her boyfriend and she didn't even answer his phone call.


	3. Facing The Truth

**Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I love reading them. Please review!**

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"Hey Haley, it's me. Again. I guess you're not answering your cell phone still. Maybe you lost it. I don't know why you aren't answering. Call me back when you get this, I guess. I'll talk to you later. Bye." Haley listened to the voice that was playing on the voice mail of her cell phone. She hadn't answered any of his calls for the past two days. The whole weekend. He wasn't calling her because he wanted to anyway. He was only calling her because she wasn't answering his calls. It wasn't as if he actually called her this much all of the time. She wished he did things like that. He didn't even do things like that in the beginning of their relationship. She always had to call him first.

She didn't know what to do anymore. Of course she still loved him, but she wasn't sure that it was still the same kind of love that it used to be. If that made any sense at all. She couldn't figure out if that spark that they had was still there. Sometimes it felt like their spark was completely burnt out. She didn't feel like she used to feel about him and them. Things were just different. There wasn't anything left for her to do to change it either. Her feeling this wasn't something that just recently developed over the course of one night. She had been starting to feel it a little bit of last year and she kept trying the hardest that she could to make things better, but it always seemed as if she was the only one who was trying to fix things. He just wasn't interested in their problems. He would claim that everything was fine, that they had no problems, and that there wasn't anything that needed to be fixed. Therefore, she let it go and kept trying to ignore the negative thoughts she was having about their relationship. She knew then, that it was on the way to becoming broken and now she felt like it was officially broke. It couldn't be fixed or put off anymore. She just wasn't sure she could handle the break up that was bound to end horribly. She wasn't even sure that she could handle it now, but she definitely knew that she couldn't take feeling like this any longer than she needed to. Everything was so frustrating, and confusing. It was a hassle and stressful. It shouldn't be.

Lately, he had been trying to convince her to drop everything and drive or fly up to New York to visit him at college. Except, if she did that then it would mean that she would have to miss her own classes. She couldn't do that. She wouldn't do that. She couldn't even afford to do that. She didn't have the money to get to New York. Plus, she was at Duke on an academic scholarship. She couldn't afford to go to college without it. It wasn't like her family was poor, but they didn't have enough to pay for her to go to school. Growing up in a family with six older siblings, she had learned from an early age that money wasn't going to be something that was just handed to her. She had to work for money and that was when she decided to get a job waitressing at a small coffee shop near her house. She always tried explaining to him that she would lose her scholarship if she just skipped class because she was out of town going to visit her boyfriend. That wasn't a valid excuse for missing a bunch of classes as far as the university was concerned. Besides, if he really wanted to see her that badly, why couldn't he come and visit her? He wasn't on any type of scholarship. He was always so complicated. He mad things so much worse than they actually were.

Sighing, she ran a hand through her long honey colored hair and glanced at the clock. Twelve o'clock. She still had another two hours before her class began. Her stomach growled out loud, reminding her that she was hungry. She wanted to get something to eat before her class started. It was lunch time anyway.

Haley grabbed her keys and locked the door behind her on her way out. She opted for walking instead of driving. The café that she wanted to go to was close by to the school's campus anyway. There wasn't a reason for her to drive.

As she was walking, her mind traveled back to thoughts about the events that had been going on recently in her life. The morning after the party that she had made a quick appearance at, she went shopping at the mall with Peyton and her new friend, Brooke. At first, Haley wasn't quite sure that she was going to like Brooke. She didn't think that they would get along together well, but it turned out that they got along great and had found they had an almost instant liking for each other. It was the beginning of a great friendship. Haley liked Brooke. She was glad that Peyton had introduced them to each other.

Her and Peyton finally went music store searching together. They ended up finding a couple of really good shops. It was fun going music shopping with Peyton. She knew so much about music and shared her knowledge of it with you. It was nice to see Peyton talking about something she really loved and in her case it just so happened to be music. Peyton had actually applied for a job at one of the shops. She needed to get a job for money and what better place to work than at a place that you love. Her music collection was probably going to triple, especially, if she got discounts.

Thinking back to the party on Friday night, she felt like she wanted to scream. He had called her not even ten minutes after she had arrived there. It was like he knew when she was having a good time and that was when he would call her. It was annoying. It happened all of the time. She answered anyway. Seeing it was him, she had went out into the backyard because she didn't want people that she knew to hear the conversation she was going to have with him. She never knew what was going to be said during these conversations, especially if he was drunk, that was a whole other story.

Coincidentally, she found herself talking to the guy she ran into at the grocery store. Apparently he was some hot shot basketball player named Nathan Scott that she should have already known, but didn't. She wasn't interested in sports so why should she know who the players are. He acted as if it was a crime that she didn't who he was. She didn't understand what the big deal was. It was only college basketball. They ended up talking for a little while and she found that it was rather easy to talk to him. She liked talking to him and she didn't even know him. He was fun to be around as far as she knew of. She couldn't help but wished that he would of called her. He did 'steal' her cell phone number. She mentally cursed at herself for thinking that she wanted him to call her, yet she had been ignoring all the calls she was getting from her boyfriend. Even if he was a crappy boyfriend, he was still her boyfriend.

"Haley!" She heard someone call her name and bringing her out of all of her thoughts. Turning around, she saw that there was none other than Nathan Scott, himself. She stopped walking to wait for him to catch up with her. She had been seeing him everywhere lately. Ever since she had met him at the grocery store. It was weird.

"You know, I have actually been wondering where my stalker was, but I forgot to look in the most obvious place and of course he was there, behind me, all of this time." Haley said to him with a smile on her face as he reached her.

He smirked at her. "You're funny. What's your major? You going to be a comedian after you graduate?" He questioned her.

"Now that you mention it, I am thinking about considering that profession." She joked. "So, what's up?" She asked him. She was wondering where she was going to run into him next. It seemed that everywhere she went that he was there too.

"Just trying to kill some time before I have to go to practice today." Nathan answered her.

"Me too. Except class, not practice. I'm actually on my way to this small café for lunch if you want to come with me, but if not then that's cool too. It's not like you have to come or anything. Whatever you want to do is totally fine. You don't have to come just because I asked you, but-" She rambled on unknowingly.

Nathan cut off her rambling. "Haley." He said interrupting her. "Haley, you're rambling." He pointed out and smirked at her. He remembered back to the incident at the grocery store and realized that she had rambled on then too.

She bit at her bottom lip. "Sorry. I kind of tend to do that a lot. I don't even know when I am doing it, so it's not like I can help it. I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

He nodded his head and continued smirking at her. "Yeah. Just a little bit."

"Sorry." Haley apologized once again. She couldn't help it that she sometimes rambled. She did it unintentionally. She wasn't even aware of it when it was happening.

"It's fine. No big deal. So, are you going to lead the way to lunch or what?" He said. He was happy when he had spotted her walking down the sidewalk, but now he was even happier.

Haley looked up at him and smiled a big smile at him while nodding her head. She latched onto his arm and started leading them to the way in which the café was in. "Let's go." She said pulling him along in all of the right directions.

Ten minutes later, Nathan and Haley found themselves walking into the small homey feeling café. Although it was close to the school campus, Nathan had never noticed it before. Haley pulled him over to a table that was placed next to a window. They sat down and the waitress came over to take their order. After they left, the conversation began.

"Macaroni and cheese? You ordered macaroni and cheese?" Nathan asked her. He had a confused look on his face and Haley couldn't help but notice that he looked kind of cute when he was confused. She mentally cursed at herself for noticing small things about him like that. She wasn't supposed notice things like that except when it was about her boyfriend.

"Hey, macaroni and cheese just happens to be my favorite. It is the food of the gods." Haley replied, fully content with her meal choice.

Nathan laughed. "Yeah, if the gods are five year olds. How old are you again?" He joked.

She playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up! I love mac and cheese."

"Okay. So, when did you find this place anyway? I didn't even know it was here." He said to her, seriously wondering how he had never noticed it before. He walked down this street all of the time.

"Last year." Haley answered him. "One day I was in desperate need of coffee and I saw this place. I ordered a cup of coffee and it was like the best I had ever had. It's so good here." She explained.

"I'll have to take your word for it. I'm not a coffee person."

"Okay. So, I started coming here all of the time for coffee and one day I tried the food. It turns out that the food is good too and I can get my favorite meal here, which is always a plus." She said.

"I'll be deciding that after I try this cheeseburger." He said while nodding to the food that their waitress had just brought over to them.

"I'm telling you it's good." She told him. "Would I lie to you?" She asked with a small smile.

"I don't know. I don't really know you." He pointed out. She was so comfortable with talking to him that she kept forgetting that they didn't even really know each other. When she was talking with him she felt like they had been friends for a long time.

"That is true. I kind of keep forgetting that I don't really know you. I just feel so comfortable talking to you, though. It's like we have been friends for a while. Is that weird?" She admitted honestly. She was curious to know if he felt that way to or if it was just her. She wondered what gave her the courage to ask him.

"I don't know. I know what you mean though. So, it can't be that weird." Nathan answered.

"There, now you know three things about me. I like talking to you, I don't lie, and I love macaroni and cheese. You should've known about the mac and cheese anyway."

The confused look reappeared on his face. "What? How could I have known that? I don't read minds. Or favorite foods." He said.

"From the grocery store. There was two boxes of mac and cheese in my basket, or on the floor, whatever." Haley filled him in.

"I didn't notice." He answered her honestly. The truth was he was too preoccupied with noticing her to notice that she was planning on buying two boxes of macaroni and cheese, but he wasn't going to tell her that. At least not yet he wasn't.

She gave him a knowing look, telling him that he wasn't surprised he didn't notice."I figured." She said. "You were probably too busy laughing at me and how clumsy I am."

"No, actually I was wondering how you didn't know who I was." He smirked. He really was surprised when she was completely clueless as to he was, especially seeing that she had a Duke sweatshirt on.

"You are so cocky. Not everyone at the school knows you." She laughed.

"I think it was everyone except you, but we fixed that so there is nothing to worry about." He joked. "You never did get that autograph."

"Well, I don't really need one know. Instead I'll just have to bring you everywhere and show everyone that I know The Nathan Scott." She laughed. "Keep your autograph, Scott. You never know, I might want it later." She said to him.

He laughed at her. She made him laugh a lot. It was rare that he laughed or smiled a real, genuine smile this much, but when he was with Haley it seemed that he smiled and laughed all of the time. She was so different than all of the other fake girls that he knew. He figured that was what had attracted him to her in the first place. It was a nice change to be around someone who treated him like any other regular person.

The waitress then brought the check over to their table. Nathan grabbed it before Haley had the chance to see how much it was. He took out his wallet and starting counting money.

"Nathan, how much is it?" Haley asked him. She needed to know so that she could pay.

"Don't worry about it." He said to her without looking up from what he was doing.

"Nathan, I invited you to come with me to lunch, I should pay. It's not that big of a deal. Let me pay." Haley said to him. She invited him here, it only made sense that she was the one that paid the bill.

Nathan shook his head. "No. I got it." He said getting up and walking over to the counter to pay, Haley still not knowing how much it was. She smiled at him from her spot at the table. She hadn't expected him to pay for lunch.

She had talked to Peyton about the Scott brothers earlier that weekend and she had heard some rather not so good things about them. That they used girls, got drunk and hooked up with one leaving her as soon as it was over. They said even though Lucas has a girlfriend he is only using her to make himself not look like an egotistical man-whore. She couldn't believe that people were saying kinds of these things about one of the same guys she had been hanging out with recently. He always seemed so nice and fun. If this was true she wondered why she had never seen him behave that way. The Nathan that she had been hanging out with didn't seem like a bad guy, but then again could she really know that yet? She hardly knew who he was. In fact, she had never even heard of him up until three nights ago at a grocery store.

Life was so confusing right now.

She watched as Nathan walked back over to the table.

"Ready to go?" He asked her.

Haley nodded her head and stood up from the table and they walked out of the café. "Thank you" She said to him.

"For what?" He questioned.

"Lunch. For coming. For paying. Just lunch." She replied.

"I told you, I wanted to pay. And I should be thanking you for inviting me to eat lunch with you."

Haley laughed. "Are you serious? I was the one in the sharing a table with a college basketball superstar. I bet everyone was so jealous." She joked with him.

"They should have been. I was sitting with the prettiest girl." He said.

Haley took her bottom lip in between her teeth and stared at the cement sidewalk she was standing on. She most certainly was not expecting him to say something like that. She knew she had to tell him. She didn't want to, but there was no way that she couldn't now. Haley wished she didn't have to say anything about it. It was something she began to hate talking about and think about, although she would think about it all of the time.

There was an awkward silence and Nathan wished he had never said that. He was usually a cocky, confident, and self-assured person, but around her it seemed as if he cared about what he said and did to her. He didn't know her all that well, but he knew she was different and he knew that he liked her.

As if on cue, her cell phone started ringing loudly. Nathan looked to her to see if she was going to answer it, but it didn't seem like she was making any movement to pick it up. She wasn't going to answer. She didn't even need to check who it was, she knew. He had impeccable timing. He always called whenever she really did not want him to. It was like he had a clock telling him when exactly to call her.

Haley cleared her throat and finally looked up from the ground. "Um, thanks, I think." She said to him. "Look, Nathan-"

He interrupted her. "I get it. It's okay if you don't like me. I knew you were different from when you first ran into me and didn't know who I was, but you've probably heard things or you're just not interested. It's cool. I'm just going to go." He said to her.

"No Nathan, wait!" She said. He looked at her waiting for her to continue. "That's not it. Really. I do like you. You seem fun to be around and I do want to get to know you more if you want to. You know, be friends. It's just that, well, I'm kind of in a relationship right now, if you could even still call it that." Haley tried explaining.

He stared at her. Maybe that was who she was having that secret conversation with at the party on Friday night. He blinked a couple of times, unsure of what to say. "Okay." That was all he could come up with to say the moment. He didn't know why he felt a pang of jealousy run through him when hearing her say that she had a boyfriend. He didn't need her, girl were throwing themselves at him all of the time. "I got practice. I should go. Good luck with that class." He said before leaving and heading off towards the gym.

Haley felt terrible. Even though her and Nathan had just met and starting hanging out with each other only three days ago, she felt an instant connection with him. She liked hanging out with him and talking with him. Actually, she just liked him. Or at least what she knew of him so far. He had just told her that he liked her and then she had to tell him that she had a boyfriend. If he even counted as one anymore, but they had never actually broken up and Haley was not the type of girl to cheat on her boyfriend, no matter how he treated her. She hated cheating and she had no respect towards people who cheated, she didn't want to become one of those people.

She still wasn't sure what exactly she was going to do about everything. She knew that she didn't want to be stuck in her crappy relationship, if it still was one, but she didn't know if she was ready for the brutal break up that was bound to occur. As selfish as that sounded, she couldn't help but be scared for what was going to happen. She knew what she had to do. She couldn't live like this any longer. It was already too long.


	4. Learning Secrets

**Hey everyone. Thanks to those who reviewd the thrid chapter. This chapter is a little longer. I did some research for this chapter so it really is eight hours (you'll see) and I hope the kind of car Peyton has is right, I found it on a website. Hope you like it. Please review! Thanks!**

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After basketball practice and showering, Nathan walked over to his bed and laid down. Lucas wasn't back yet because he had promised Brooke that he would drop her off at her dorm building. Who really knew how long that could take. He started thinking back to earlier that afternoon, after he had just finished having lunch with Haley. He hoped that she didn't think that he was really pissed at her because she had a boyfriend. He knew that he had probably sounded like he was mad, but he was just a little bit surprised and didn't really know how to act. He had never liked a girl this much who wasn't all over him and had a boyfriend. He had thought that she had been flirting with him too, but maybe she wasn't. Plus, he wasn't used to being with girls like Haley. He was used to girls hanging around him all of the time, only needing to commit to one thing and they were okay with that because they knew that was how he worked. This included some girls who had boyfriends, but not with Haley. Haley James sure knew how to mess with his mind in a matter of what, five days? He hadn't even met her that long ago and she had been on his mind ever since. There was no way of getting her off his mind. She was always there, even if it was just a little bit, she was still there. What was she doing to him? He was a player. A ladies man. He had a different girl on his arm every time you saw him, except for recently because there was no girl. No girl stuck in his mind like Haley James. 

Lucas had even started teasing him for not going out and partying every night just to look for a random hook up. He said that he was surprised Nathan was actually going just to be at the party and not for the girls that were there. He claimed 'his little brother was finally growing up' because he hadn't been having one night stands lately. Of course Nathan had told him to shut up and mind his own business. Lucas was only ten minutes older than Nathan, but he liked to think of it as such of a bigger difference than it really was.

Nathan wished that Haley didn't have a boyfriend, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. He didn't want to mess up her relationship, no matter how much he liked her. As a matter of fact, he knew that was why he didn't want to mess up her relationship. He was actually scared of liking Haley. He knew that he probably didn't deserve her and that she could do so much better than him. Her boyfriend probably was so much better than he was, he was probably someone who deserved to have someone like Haley. Nathan had never felt like this about anyone before, so of course he was afraid that if he got involved with her that he would just screw everything up and hurt her. He didn't want to do that, but the thing about Nathan was that he usually went after what he wanted, no matter what he tried to tell himself.

Nathan sat up and looked towards the door as he heard Lucas opening it. Lucas walked through the door and threw his basketball bag onto the ground before plopping onto his own bed across from Nathan, groaning and closing his eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Nathan asked him with a curious yet confused look on his face.

Lucas opened one eye to look at his brother from across the room. He closed his eye again and ran a hand over his face. "Uh, I guess I got into an argument with Brooke." Lucas told him.

After basketball practice was over, Lucas had went to get a shower and change his clothes. He walked out of the gym and saw Brooke waiting by his car for him. He had promised that he would give her a ride back to her dorm. She was living in a different building than he was, but she had a class that day that was ending around the same time as his practice was over and said she had gotten a ride from Peyton there because Peyton was in a different class that was beginning at the same time as Brooke's class was. On his way to his car some random girl had stopped him to ask him directions to a place that was off campus. Being the nice guy that Lucas was, he had given her the directions she needed and she thanked him. When he reached his car and went to lean in to give Brooke a kiss she moved away and started yelling at him. She was saying how could he just let that girl flirt with him in front of her and him not do anything about it, then try to kiss her. He was clueless and asked how the girl flirting, she only wanted directions, but that was the wrong thing to ask. Brooke then proceeded to rattle off something about how when the girl was leaving she touched Lucas' arm and laughed about something, but Brooke didn't know what because she was too far away to hear the conversation. Lucas apologized even though he didn't see the problem because he didn't think the girl was flirting and he knew that he wasn't. Except, Brooke apparently was in a bad mood and said he wasn't forgiven and for him not to call her that night because she would still be mad at him.

"What did you do?" Nathan asked his brother, already knowing that it was probably his fault because Brooke was usually the one who got mad at the other. Lucas didn't really get mad that easily. He was a calm guy.

"Okay, so..." Lucas began telling Nathan about what had happened between him and Brooke. He still didn't understand why she was so mad. Brooke was so complicated sometimes. "So, now she's pissed off at me and I'm not allowed to call her tonight because of it." He finished telling the story.

Nathan had an amused look on his face and tried to hold back his laughter, knowing that Lucas would get mad at him for laughing at his situation.

"Wipe the smirk off your face. It's not funny." Lucas said. Although his eyes were still closed he knew that Nathan would have the Scott trademark smirk on his face.

"Dude, it's not my fault your girlfriend got pissed off you for something stupid like that." Nathan said as he starting laughing at his brother.

"Ugh, shut up." Lucas said. He hated fighting with Brooke. Especially over stupid things like this.

"Maybe she was just having a bad day." Nathan suggested.

Lucas got up and nodded his head. "Yeah, maybe. So, I heard you had lunch with Haley today. How was that?" Lucas asked. He was interested to know how things with Haley were going. Lucas had never seen his brother so interested in one specific girl before.

"She told me she was in a relationship." Nathan said simply.

Lucas stared at him for a minute before speaking, "So, when has that ever stopped you before?" He asked. Usually Nathan didn't really care if the girl he wanted had a boyfriend or not.

"I don't know. Just drop it." Nathan replied. He didn't want to talk about his feelings about Haley. "How did you know that I had lunch with Haley today?" Nathan questioned.

"I saw Peyton and she told me. They are friends and roommates." Lucas explained when he saw the look that Nathan was giving him, asking how Peyton knew. "You up for some NBA Live?" He asked. He just wanted to relax and playing some video games with his brother was a good way to do so.

"Yeah, There's some party later that I'm going to. You should come." Nathan said.

After having lunch with Nathan, Haley went to her next class even though she wasn't concentrating well. She tried to, but she couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen in the next two days. She had one day off and two classes the other day, but they were both canceled for some reason. Haley was driving up to see her boyfriend in New York. She was leaving tonight and was scheduled to be back sometime on Wednesday. It was an eight hour drive, but she needed to go up there and see him. This should be interesting. On the bright side, Peyton was coming with her because she couldn't drive the full eight hours by herself in one night and Peyton wanted to go to New York. She said she had a friend up there that she had been wanting to visit.

As soon as class was over, Haley gathered her books and walked back to her dorm. She needed to pack her things for the trip. Her and Peyton had agreed on going to a party tonight for an hour, but no drinking and then from there their trip would begin.

She went to unlock the door to her dorm, but it was already unlocked. Peyton must be there. She was probably packing her things. Sure enough, when she opened the door, her guess was proved right as she saw Peyton tossing clothes into a bag on her bed. Peyton paused what she was doing as the door closed shut. She turned to see Haley walking in.

"Hey, how was class? Oh, and I want details on that lunch you had today." Peyton said to her roommate.

Haley put her books down and got out her over-sized duffel bag. She started neatly placing things inside while she answered Peyton. "Class was boring, I think. I couldn't concentrate. I was thinking about our trip. Lunch was fun until after lunch when we were outside of the place. I told Nathan I was in a relationship and he said okay, then he left saying he had to go and good luck in class. It was kind of awkward." Haley told her.

"Sounds awkward." Peyton answered.

Haley stopped what she was doing and walked over to sit on the part of Peyton's bed that wasn't covered in clothes and her bag. "I think I like Nathan. Can I even like him? I don't know him. How is this possible?" She looked at Peyton for an answer.

Peyton turned to look at Haley. "I don't know, Hales. You can't help who you like." Peyton responded and shrugged her shoulders. She really had no clue what to tell Haley. She wasn't really one in position to be giving relationship advice. She had been in love with her best friend for a long time now, but she was too scared to say anything to him. Now she was driving up to New York and she was going to visit him. Peyton wished that he went to school in North Carolina and not New York. The last she heard of, he was actually looking into maybe transferring to UNC. The both of them had grown up in Charlotte, North Carolina, so he would be closer to him, and her, but it was not her decision to make. If only it were that easy.

Jake Jagelski was her best friend since pretty much forever and she had been in love with him since high school. She was always too scared to say something though, afraid of her feelings not being returned. It seemed as if every time she did build up enough courage to say something to him, there was always something else in the way. He had a new girlfriend, he just got out of a relationship, he was having other problems, so she just never said anything. It was finally her chance. Maybe. If she got the courage to tell him.

Haley let out a frustrated sigh. "What do I do?" She asked quietly.

"See what happens when we get to New York." Peyton answered. She didn't know about Haley's relationship with her boyfriend. She had never met Haley's boyfriend before. She had just met Haley when they moved into the dorm. Peyton really couldn't tell her what to do. The way she saw it was that it was Haley's life, not hers and Haley needed to make her own decisions even if she was going to live to regret them.

"I think that is a good idea." Haley said and got up to continue packing her bag.

It was four o'clock now and they had originally planned to go to the party a little earlier than usual and get there at nine. They would leave at ten o'clock and start driving to New York. The came up with the idea of four hour driving shifts. One girl would drive for four hours straight while the other did whatever they wouldn't, since the majority of their drive would be in the middle of the night they would most likely be sleeping. They should arrive in New York around six to seven in the morning and they were going to stay with Peyton's friend at his apartment so they would save money by not getting a hotel room.

Haley and Peyton pulled up to the party in Peyton's classic black 1964 Mercury Cornet Caliente. It was pretty crowded, but then again why wouldn't it be, it was a college party. The two girls made their way into the party and squeezed their way around all of the people.

"Peyton! Haley! Over here!" They heard someone yell to them over the loud music. Looking over, they saw Brooke waving for them to go over to her. Once they reached Brooke, she took hold of one of their hands each, dragging them off.

"A cup?" Brooke asked after she finished dragging them to the keg.

Both of them shook their heads no and Brooke's mouth hung open. "Why not?" She asked.

"We're driving up to New York tonight." Peyton informed her.

"Huh? Why?" Brooke questioned.

"Haley is going to visit her boyfriend and my best friend is up there. We're staying with him, actually. It's a last minute trip that we just planned." Peyton explained as Haley nodded her head in confirmation.

"When are you guys coming back?"

"We'll be back on Wednesday." Haley told her.

"Okay, then we have to PAR-TAY!" Brooke yelled and took a sip of her drink. "What is he doing here?" Brooke asked, more to herself then anyone else. Peyton and Haley looked over to where Brooke was watching the door as Lucas walked in with Nathan behind him.

"You don't want Nathan here?" Peyton guessed.

"No, I don't want Lucas here." Brooke answered.

Haley and Peyton looked confused. "Why not? He's your boyfriend." Haley spoke.

"I'm mad at him. Well, I was, but now I don't remember why. I'm going to go tell him it's time to make up now. Have fun on your trip, girlies." Brooke said before skipping away to meet Lucas and Haley and Peyton both laughed.

Nathan had followed Lucas into the house where the party was. He walked through the crowded rooms of the house and stopped to talk to some of his friends that were on the basketball team with him when they called him over. He was only really half listening to the conversation that was taking place.

He looked around and saw Brooke and Lucas talking and then kissing. He guessed Brooke wasn't mad anymore. Sometimes Brooke would get mad at Lucas for stupid things because she just needed to be mad at someone and then later they would be going on as if their argument had never even happened.

Looking around some more, he noticed Haley talking to Peyton and a couple of other people that he didn't know. He wondered why him and Haley always seemed to be at the same place at the same time. It was like someone was setting them up every time, even though it was just party and a lot of people were there.

He was watching Haley laugh and talk to the people that were around her when he felt someone come up from behind him and stand next to him. He looked over and saw a blonde girl he had never met before. That wasn't anything new though. This was a regular thing that happened at parties. Girls always came up to him and tried to get his attention and if they were lucky they would get more than that.

"Hi, I'm Jess." She said in a squeaky voice, which Nathan automatically thought of as annoying. He wasn't sure if her voice was supposed to be that squeaky or not and he decided that this girl sort of reminded him of a mouse.

"Nathan." He said even though he didn't really want to be near this girl.

"I know." The girl said and giggled. "Want to get a drink?" She asked him and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Uh, not now." He answered. He thought that maybe she would get the hint that he wanted her to go away if he kept giving her short answers and acted kind of rude. He walked back over to the basketball guys, thinking it would get rid of her, but she followed him and kept touching his arm every two seconds. This girl was being so clingy, they were usually like this after he slept with them, not before. This Jess girl was weird.

Haley was talking to Peyton and two guys that knew Peyton from one of her classes. She wasn't really interested in the conversation anymore. After the two guys ran out of jokes they were really boring. She looked around and saw Nathan with a tall, skinny, bleach blonde girl. She wondered if he knew her or not or if this is what Peyton had been telling her about. The rumors about him just sleeping with the first girl he sees and then ditching her. Haley tried not to watch Nathan and the bleach blonde, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't take her eyes off of them. Hopefully, they wouldn't turn around and catch her staring.

"Nathan, I'm thirsty." Jess complained to him.

He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. Did she think he was going to go get a her drink? If she did, then she had another thing coming. "Then go get a drink." He said. At this point he didn't care if he was mean to her, this girl was driving him crazy. She wouldn't leave him alone.

She huffed and then gave him a fake smile. "I'll be back." She said before leaving.

Nathan rolled his eyes and muttered "Take your time." He walked over to where Brooke and Lucas were sitting down and sat next to them. Maybe mouse girl wouldn't see him as easily if he was sitting. "Hey guys, what's up?" He asked them.

Lucas gave him a look telling him that he better not bring up him and Brooke fighting earlier that day as Brooke answered them. "Isn't this a great party, Nathan? This is a great party. It can be Haley and Peyton's going away party." Brooke rambled on. She was obviously a little drunk.

Nathan looked at her. "Where are they going?" He asked. No one told him that they were leaving. Was it for good? He was so confused.

"Um, I forget. Wait! No, I remember now. They are going to New York." Brooke happily announced.

"When? For how long?" Nathan asked more questions. Why hadn't anyone said anything to him about this? He just had lunch with Haley that afternoon and she didn't say anything.

"Let me think. Tonight and Wednesday they're back on." Brooke laughed and Lucas shook his head at his girlfriend. She really had too much to drink. Thank God there was nothing left in her cup. He decided that he wasn't letting her refill it anymore either.

"Why didn't Haley tell me?" He asked.

"Don't know. Don't care. Let's dance, Broody!" Brooke said.

"Brooke, maybe we should leave. I'll take you home, okay?" Lucas said. "I'm taking her home." He said to Nathan without waiting for Brooke to respond.

Nathan nodded and got up as his brother tried to convince Brooke to leave. He saw Haley standing by herself so he decided to go over and talk to her.

"Hey." Haley greeted him as he walked towards her.

"Hey. So, you and Peyton are going to New York, huh?" He asked.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, we are. It's nothing special." She said.

"Seeing your boyfriend isn't special?" Nathan asked her.

"It's complicated. I actually should find Peyton. We planned on leaving now. I'll see you when I get back?"

"Yeah, I guess. Have fun with your boyfriend." Nathan told her before he walked away. Haley watched him walk away for a few another minute before turning to find Peyton. The long drive to New York was about to begin.

Eight and a half hours, four shifts of driving, two bathroom breaks, and a lot of sleeping later, it was seven-thirty in the morning. Peyton pulled up to the apartment complex of her best friend. She woke Haley up and they grabbed their bags and went inside and went to get more sleep.

Five hours later, it was twelve o'clock and Haley was on her way out the door. She was going to give the two best friends some time to themselves to catch up while she went to go visit her boyfriend. The college wasn't far from the apartment complex so Haley was just going to take a cab there in case Peyton needed her car.

Haley paid the cab driver and got out. She realized that she was right at the dorms her boyfriend's room was at. That was good, she didn't have to walk anywhere to get there. She walked in behind someone who she assumed lived there and walked up the stairs to the second floor. She remembered him telling her that his room number was 14 and because the main floor was the common area for everyone to be in, room number 14 was on the second floor.

She walked down the hallway and scanned the door numbers looking for 14. Haley didn't know if she was ready for this, but she couldn't put it off any longer. They had to talk. She was nervous. She didn't know what was going to happen and how it would end. She reached the door. 14. She stared at the number. One part of her hoped he was there so she could get this over with, but the other part of her hoped he wasn't, she was scared.

Haley knocked on the door, if he was there, there was no going back now. No one answered, but she could hear noises from the other side of the door. She reached for the handle and pushed the door open. It was unlocked. As the door opened, she wasn't prepared for what she saw. Her boyfriend was having sex with some other girl that definitely wasn't her. A million thoughts started running through her mind. She couldn't even form words.

"Oh, my God." Haley whispered and clenched her eyes shut. "What the hell is this?" She yelled.

The two guilty people looked at her beginning to put their clothes back on, now noticing her presence due to her yelling. "Haley, what are you doing here?" Was what he asked her.

"What am I doing here? You're asking me what I'm doing here? I'm visiting who was supposed to be my boyfriend, Damien. The boyfriend who kept begging me to come. What the hell are you doing?" She continued to yell. She couldn't even think straight. She had so many thoughts. So many questions.

Damien West. He is her boyfriend. At least he was supposed to be. Haley could not believe this. He had always treated her well and was so sweet to her even if he was mean to other people. She started wondering if it was all just an act. He had made a fool out of her. She was so stupid and naïve to believe that he was actually being a good boyfriend. She had trusted him completely. The thought of him cheating on her never crossed her mind. She knew that they weren't in the best relationship, but she had thought that he would at least be faithful and trustworthy while they were still together. She was so stunned and dumbfounded. "How long?" She asked blatantly.

"What?" Damien asked.

"I said how long? How long have you been cheating on me? How many girls were there? I want to know." She demanded an answer. She wanted to know. She needed to know what had been going on behind her back. She had trusted him. Sure, their relationship wasn't as steady as most, but she still trusted him. She should have known better.

"For a while now. I don't know, a few girls. Mostly the same." He answered honestly. He figured that was the least he could do, be honest with her. She did deserve to know.

"Son of a bitch! You are a fucking asshole!" She yelled. She was so frustrated. She couldn't even think straight. She opened her mouth to say something and closed it before opening it again. "Why?" She asked, the tears starting to form in her eyes as everything finally hit her. She was realizing what had actually happened.

He looked at her not really knowing how to answer her question. Maybe the truth was that he really didn't know why. It was mostly just because he could do it and thought that he could away with it and Haley would never find out. He hadn't expected her to come by. She was supposed to be in school in North Carolina. What the hell was she doing in New York at his dorm room? She had been telling him that there wasn't any way for her to come and now she's all of a sudden here. How did that happen? "I don't know, Hales." He said to her.

"Don't call me that! You have no right to call me that anymore!" She yelled. How dare he use that nickname for her after she had just caught him cheating on her. "I can't be here anymore. I can't even look at you anymore and don't try to call me either. I don't want to speak to you ever again. I trusted you. Once again, the smart girl is really stupid. I was so naïve, but I will never let that happen again." She said walking to the door. Before she left she turned around to say something else. "We're over, in case you didn't realize it. Oh, and have fun with your whores." Haley said before leaving.

After getting out the door she ran outside, holding the tears back. She found a cab and got in giving him the address of Jake's apartment, where she was staying with Peyton. She wondered if Peyton would want to leave New York today by any chance, she knew that she didn't want to be there anymore. She didn't even want to be in the same state as Damien.

As she sat in the back of the cab the tears finally started pouring out as she furiously wiped them away. She didn't want to cry over him, but she couldn't help it. Haley wasn't even sure if it was because she had just broken up with her on and off again boyfriend of two years, or because he had been cheating on her, or if it was just because she had trusted him so much and he made an idiot out of her. She flipped her phone open scrolling through her phone contacts. She stopped at his name and pressed delete. She wanted him out of her life.


	5. The Aftermath

**Thanks so much for the reviews. Here's the next chapter. Please review!**

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Peyton knew that this was probably the best chance she would have at telling him if she was really going to. Haley had went over to the college campus to go see her boyfriend and Peyton figured that she would probably be there for a while considering how they haven't seen each other for a while and probably wanted to catch up and spend some time with each other. She figured that Jake would be home soon and that was when she would tell him. She had to. If she didn't tell him now she didn't know when she would tell him. Or if she would tell him. She had to do this.

She was sitting on the couch with the tv on, but she wasn't really paying attention to it. Jake had some errands that he had to run and said he would be back soon. Peyton was playing with Jenny earlier, but she had gotten tired and Peyton had put her in her room to take a nap. Jenny was Jake's three year old daughter. She was the cutest little girl Peyton had ever met and Peyton loved Jenny as if she was her own child.

Peyton remembered back when her and Jake were only about sixteen years old. It was in their sophomore year of high school. It was around this age when Peyton had started to realize that she liked her best friend as more than a friend. She had no clue when this had happened, but one day she realized that her feelings for him were more than just platonic. She didn't want to ruin their friendship though and she was afraid that by saying something to Jake about her feelings that their friendship would never be the same again. Lucky for Peyton, she was a professional at hiding her emotions and feelings. Not even Jake could tell what she was feeling, unless she let him know. Besides, it's wasn't like Jake liked her back anyway. He had just started dating a senior named Nicole Brown. Soon, about three months later Nikki announced to Jake that she was pregnant and he was indeed the baby's father. Peyton remembered when Jake had told her the news. She felt her heart breaking, but she wasn't sure if it was for him because now he would forever be tied down to Nikki or for her because she was in love with him and he was having a baby with someone else, his psycho bitch of a girlfriend. Nine months later, little Jennifer Ann Jagelski was born and welcomed into the world. As soon as Peyton saw the baby girl, she knew that she loved her. One night about a week after Jenny was born, Jake was sitting at home with Peyton just hanging out like they always did when the doorbell rang. Jake had gotten up to see if it was the pizza they had ordered about a half an hour ago, but when he opened the door he saw his week old daughter on his front porch step with a note from Nikki stating that she wasn't ready for a child and that she was leaving because she couldn't handle a kid and didn't want to be involved in her life. She was leaving her with Jake and Peyton had felt her heart break a little bit more, this time it was for Jenny. Even though Nikki was a bitch, she was still Jenny's mother and every girl deserved to have a mother present in their life. Peyton would know. Her own mother was killed in a car accident when she was only a little girl.

The door opened and Jake walked in and Peyton knew that it was now or never. She got up off of the couch and walked into the kitchen area of the apartment where Jake was getting something to drink.

"Hey Peyt." Jake greeted her with a smile. It was nice seeing his best friend again. He hadn't seen her for a while with them going to school in different states and he missed her a lot. Jenny missed her too. Even at the young age of three, she still knew who her Peyton was. Jenny loved Peyton as much as Peyton loved her, there was no doubt about that. "Was Jenny okay?" He asked. He was such a good dad to her. That little girl was his whole world. He couldn't imagine his life without Jenny.

Peyton smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, she was great, as always. She got a little tired so I put her in her room to take a nap, though. I really missed her. You too. I wish I could see you both more often."

"Yeah, me too. We missed you, Peyton. It was a nice surprise when you called me and told me you were coming to New York with your roommate. Where she is anyway?" He asked, noticing that Haley wasn't around.

"Oh, Haley went to go visit her boyfriend. He goes to NYU." Peyton informed Jake. "Listen, Jake, there is something I wanted to tell you." She asked. This was it. She was going to do it. Finally.

"There's something I want to tell you too." Jake told her.

"You go first." Peyton said. She didn't know what he was going to say to her and truthfully, she was little afraid of what he could possibly have to tell her.

"Okay, well, you know I have wanted to do this for a while, but I am transferring to UNC." He happily announced. He was a little tired of New York. He missed his home, his family, and most of all his best friend. Plus, Jenny would be able to stay with his parents while he was at school instead of him having to pay a day care to watch her. He didn't really like putting her in a day care and it would save money.

"Jake, that's great!" Peyton exclaimed and moved to hug him. "I'm so happy you're moving back to North Carolina. When are you coming back?" She asked him as she pulled away from his embrace.

"In about two to three weeks, hopefully. So, what did you want to tell me?" Jake asked her.

After paying the cab driver and getting out she decided on not going into the apartment until she could stop crying. She didn't want to go in there crying because she didn't even want to be crying at all. Haley was still so furious at the situation. She was mad at herself for trusting him as much as she did. She couldn't believe how stupid she was. How could she not have suspected that he was cheating on her, and for a while with different girls too? She felt like she should be smacked across the head and someone should be screaming at her how obvious it was, but that was the problem, it wasn't obvious. Not at all. She wondered if maybe it was because he just didn't want to be with her anymore and didn't have the decency to break up with her before sleeping with other girls or if it was because Haley never would have sex with him. She had always stopped him before it got that far. It wasn't that she didn't love him, because she did, or at least she thought that she did, and it wasn't that she was waiting until she was married, because she didn't think she was. She just never really felt ready with him, especially when he sometimes pressured her about the issue. She was so thankful now that she never gave herself to him completely.

Once Haley had finally managed to subside her tears she entered the apartment building and located the one she was staying in. She wasn't even sure if Peyton or Jake were there, but she hoped that if they weren't there that they had not locked the door or else she was going to have to stay outside even longer until they got back. She figured that Jake would have given Peyton a key for while they were there in case he wasn't there, but she wasn't really sure.

"Well, I've been wanting to tell you this for a while. Jake, I-" Peyton started, but heard the door open and turned around to see who it was walking through the door, and to her surprise it was Haley. She was back sooner than Peyton had been expecting. A lot sooner actually. As Haley walked closer, Peyton could see her red rimmed and puffy eyes and she then knew that Haley had been crying. Peyton felt a little uncomfortable. She hadn't known Haley that long and she wasn't usually that good for giving advice, but she wanted to help. It didn't that help that she had been about to finally tell Jake her true feelings towards him, but now that he was moving back to North Carolina she figured that could wait. Haley needed a friend, she just wasn't sure why yet.

Peyton walked over to her roommate. "Haley, what happened? Why were you crying? Is everything okay?" Peyton started asking questions and Haley's tears started up again. Damn it, why couldn't she stop crying. She wanted things to be over. Just not this way.

Haley wiped at her tears. "He's been cheating on me. For a long time. With a more than one girl. There has been multiple girls, Peyton. Why was I so stupid? I trusted him. I never ever once thought about him cheating on me, but God, I was so, so stupid. I hate him. I hate him so much. I never want to see him or talk to him again. I am such an idiot. I made a complete fool out of myself too. He calls me and practically begs me to come visit him, but I guess he forgot to tell me that I needed to schedule an appointment with him ahead of time because if I come and surprise him I will only go to his dorm room to walk in on him having sex with some girl who is not me, who is supposed to be his girlfriend." Haley rambled on.

Peyton grabbed onto Haley's shoulders. "Haley, look at me. You aren't stupid. If he was cheating on you, then he doesn't deserve you." Peyton said. "He's an ass, okay. Forget about him. You don't need him, anyway." Peyton told her.

Haley nodded and wiped away the rest of her tears from her eyes. No more crying was what she kept telling herself.

Peyton looked at her sympathetically. "Haley, do you want me to drive us home? We can leave now." She offered. She could only imagine what Haley was feeling right now.

"No, Peyton, I don't want you to leave. You're spending time with your best friend and-" Haley started to say.

Peyton cut her off. "It's okay. Jake's transferring to UNC and is going to be in North Carolina in about three weeks. I can see him then. I'm sure. Come on, get your bag and I'll drive." Peyton told her. Haley sniffled and nodded and went to go get her bag.

Peyton walked over to Jake. "Sorry. I really think that Haley needs to get out of her, though. Come visit me as soon as you get to North Carolina. Jenny too." She told him.

"I will. I'll see you in a few weeks. Jenny too." He agreed and gave her a hug.

Haley said bye to Jake and thanked him for letting her stay there for the few hours she did and her and Peyton walked out to Peyton's car. They hadn't even been in New York for twenty-four hours and they were already starting on their eight hour drive home back to Duke.

The top on Peyton's convertible was down and Haley's hair was blowing in her ponytail. The music coming from the radio filled in her ears. She didn't want to talk. She stared at all the surroundings they passed they by, just thinking. She was lost in the music, singing along in her head.

Luckily for Haley, Peyton didn't mind driving for eight straight hours back to school. Actually, Peyton kind of liked driving long distances. It helped clear her mind as weird as it sounded. She felt pretty bad for Haley. Glancing over to the passenger seat, she saw Haley curled up on the seat and fast asleep.

Hours later Peyton and Haley had finally reached their destination, their dorm room. It was ten o'clock at night. Thankfully, Haley didn't have any classes the next day and Peyton only had one class at nine o'clock in the morning so she could sleep more after it if she wanted to.

The next morning Haley woke up and looked at the clock next to her bed. It was nine-thirty. Haley knew that Peyton had already left, seeing as her class had started thirty minutes ago. Haley got up and decided to take a long shower. She was still upset about yesterday even though she didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't get it off of her mind and then there was Nathan. She couldn't stop thinking about him either. She was going to take a walk and hopefully get everything off of her mind.

Nathan woke up early that morning. He didn't have a class, he just couldn't fall back asleep. He got up and went for a morning run. He was supposed to have a class later that day, but it was canceled. Plus, the team had the day off from practice today. He figured that he could always go to the gym for a little bit and shoot some baskets for a few hours. He did that a lot when he wanted to clear his mind and he definitely wanted to clear his mind today. He kept thinking about Haley and what she was doing. She was still in New York with her boyfriend. She wasn't supposed to be coming back until later tomorrow night.

His iPod was playing loudly in his ears and he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. He was running down the street next to the sidewalk, along a few little stores and food places. Nathan turned the corner and ran smack into someone. His reflexes kicked in and he caught the person he had ran into. It seemed that he was colliding with people a lot lately. He looked at the person and saw Haley. Wait, Haley? What the hell? Wasn't she supposed to be in New York? Now, he was really confused. He took his headphones out of his hears and shoved his iPod in the front pocket of his gray sweatshirt.

"Thanks for catching me this time. I don't really want a repeat of in the grocery store." Haley laughed. She always happened to be in the same places he was. It was so weird, but she didn't mind.

"Haley?" He questioned and his eyebrows furrowed together.

Haley laughed at the expression on his face. "Yes, it is me. Did you expect it to be someone else, not that you planned on running into me?" She spoke.

"No, I, it's just that, well, I thought that you and Peyton were in New York visiting your boyfriend." He said after he finally processed enough words to form a sentence.

Haley looked down. "Yeah, there was um, there was a change in plans. We got home last night." She quietly informed him.

Now he was even more confused. "Haley, what's wrong?" He asked. He could tell that something wasn't right with her, he just didn't have any ideas of what it was.

"Uh, it's nothing. I'm fine. Everything is fine." She looked up and told him with a fake smile that didn't quite reach her eyes plastered on her face.

Nathan looked at her carefully. He could tell she was lying. He saw it in her eyes. Apparently she was a bad liar. Besides, did she really think that he thought that smile was real? "Haley, you're lying." He told her matter of factly.

She blinked at him, wondering how he knew. She knew that she wasn't the best liar, but he hadn't even known her that long and he could already tell that she was lying to him. "Do you want to go get something for breakfast?" She asked and pointed to the small café they had ate lunch at before she left. "I could really go for a coffee and a doughnut." She said completely avoiding his statement about her lying to him. She didn't want to talk about what happened, but she didn't want to be alone and thinking about it either.

He wondered why she was lying to him and why she had come home from New York early. Maybe he could try to get some truthful answers out of her over breakfast. Nathan nodded his head. "Yeah, let's go." He said and they started walking across the street to the café.

After ordering their food, Nathan and Haley sat down at one of the vacant tables. They were sitting in silence and Nathan couldn't take it anymore. He was still thinking about what was wrong with her.

"Haley," Nathan said breaking the silence between them. "are you going to tell me what's wrong now?" He asked her hoping for an honest answer.

"It's stupid. It's nothing." She told him. The truth was that she still wasn't sure what had bothered her the most about the whole situation. There were so many things for her to be mad about and she couldn't just pick one of them to be bothering her. She wished she could just forget about it all, but of course that would never happen.

"Haley, if it's bothering you then it isn't nothing and it probably isn't stupid either." He said.

Haley looked at him. "It's just that something happened while I was in New York that I really don't want to think about right now. Just have breakfast with me?" She quietly spoke again. She really didn't feel like talking about her half of a day in New York. She never wanted to go back there as long as that was where he was.

Nathan sighed and nodded his head, agreeing to drop the subject. At least for now. He was determined to find out what was wrong, but he would wait until a little bit later. He just had to ask her one last question before leaving the topic until later. "But, you're okay, right? You aren't hurt?" He asked just to make sure.

Haley bit her lower lip before nodding. "Physically, I'm fine. Otherwise, I will be." She cryptically answered.

"Okay." Nathan answered, even though he wasn't quite sure what exactly that meant. Hopefully, he would find out later. He was really concerned about the way she was acting. It wasn't the Haley that he had recently come to know.

After eating breakfast with little conversation, Nathan and Haley agreed on taking a walk. They were just walking around the town with no exact destination in mind. Haley pulled on the sleeves of her gray long sleeve shirt further down allowing only her fingers to be shown. Even in long sleeves and a pair of dark blue sweatpants it was still a little cold outside, but she was fine with it for now. She glanced up at Nathan. His hands were stuffed in the front pocket of his sweatshirt. She didn't know how he was wearing black basketball shorts. She thought that it was too cold for shorts, but she remembered that he was running earlier so maybe he hadn't even noticed the wind chill.

She felt bad that she hadn't told Nathan what happened. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to know. It scared her a little bit that he could already tell when she was lying to him. It also scared her how much she actually thought that she would have been entirely comfortable with telling him what happened. She hasn't even known him that long, yet she wants to tell him everything and she wants to know everything about him as well. What was this guy doing to her? She couldn't get him out of her head even when they were together. Who would've thought that running into a stranger at the grocery store would giver her a guy who seemed permanently placed in her mind.

"We got to New York at like seven in the morning. The drive was long and we were tired because it was like the middle of the night." Haley started randomly talking. She had been quiet most of the time they had been together this morning and Nathan was starting to wonder if she would ever tell him what had happened. "We fell asleep when we got there. Later I got a cab and was going to visit him at his dorm at NYU. I followed someone who lived there in. I walked up to his room. Number fourteen. I knocked, but no one answered. I thought that maybe him and his roommate weren't there, but I could here noises. I opened the door and there he was, having sex with a girl that was definitely not me. Except, you know what, I don't think that was what hurt. I think it hurt more because I had trusted him so much, but in reality I was a naïve girl who was being played. It sucked you know." She paused for a moment before continuing. "We never had a great relationship when we started dating two years ago, but it was good. Then I thought that I was in love with him, but now I'm not so sure. I know I did love him, but I just don't think I was really in love with him. Then we went our separate ways to go to college. He had convinced me that we could stay together and everything would be fine. I can't believe that I believed that. God, was an I idiot. What I hated the most was that I actually cried. I don't know why, but I did and I couldn't stop. Ugh, I just hate him so much. Maybe he did because I never slept with him or maybe it was only because I wasn't there, I don't really know and I don't want to think about it anymore. I hate him so much for doing this because I trusted him so much." She took a deep breath.

"Haley-" Nathan started to say, but got cut off.

"I was actually going up there to end things with him. We argued a lot over the phone and I hated. I think that I have wanted the break up for a while now, but I was just afraid of things ending really badly. I guess he did that for me, huh? Made things so much easier to end." Haley finally finished.

"Why did you tell me all of that?" Nathan asked.

Haley stopped walking and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you ask me what was wrong?"

Nathan saw that Haley stopped walking so he did too. "Well, yeah, but I didn't think that you would give me that much information."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that I just had to get that all off of my chest and you were here. You're always here." She said.

He nodded. "I always will be here." He promised her. He knew from that point on that he never wanted her to have to go through something like that again. He was so angry with the guy that did this to her. Who could do something like that to a girl like Haley? He had no clue. He would be furious with himself if he had done that to her.

He liked her. A lot. He didn't know her, but he definitely knew that he wanted to know everything about her. He was glad that she told him what happened. He was really worried for her. At first he had though that someone had physically hurt her and he couldn't have been more relieved when she had told him that hadn't happened.

Haley gave Nathan a small smile. It was small, but at least it was real this time. She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, giving him a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back. She didn't know what had made her open up to Nathan and tell him everything that she just did, but she knew that it felt right telling him. She liked Nathan, she really did, but how was she supposed to trust another guy after what had just happened?


	6. Having Fun?

**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated either of my stories for a week, but it's hard for me to write chapters with school and everything. Thank you to all the reviewers. Here's the next chapter. As always, please review!**

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Haley was laying awake on top of her bed, shuffling through the many various songs downloaded onto her iPod, silently mouthing the words to the songs that were flowing through her ears. She loved music. It was her escape. She was actually an amazing singer. She knew that she had a great voice, but she was way too modest about it. Although, only her parents and siblings knew that she could sing. As well as singing, she could also play a guitar and the piano. There was no doubt that she had musical talent. It was just a talent that she kept hidden. It wasn't because she was embarrassed that she was a good singer. She was just afraid that once people heard her sing or play music, they wouldn't like it. She would get horrible criticism and then her passion for the music would be gone. That was a major risk that she wasn't willing to take. She couldn't put herself out there. What happened if no one liked it and then she didn't want to love music anymore? She would quit it altogether. She knew she would and that wasn't something that she wouldn't do. Therefore, her keeping it a secret from everyone. Some people showed their talents to the world, but Haley didn't have a problem keeping them to herself. In fact it was the exact opposite. She loved keeping her musical talents to herself as something just for her. Something only she could have.

Haley was done obsessing over the broken relationship she had had with Damien. Things had been so screwed up, but she was over it and she didn't want to spend any more time dwelling over it anymore. Maybe all she really needed was to vent about it to someone and somehow that worked. With Nathan. Yes, she had told Peyton what happened, but she hadn't told her as much as she had told Nathan. It wasn't that she didn't feel comfortable with telling everything to Peyton, she just didn't want to burden Peyton with all of her problems. By the time she had met up with Nathan, she just had to get it all out and he was the only one that was there. Oddly, it felt good telling someone. Someone being Nathan. Haley still couldn't believe that she had told all of that to him. Actually, she felt kind of bad for blurting all of it all. Well, he had asked her what was wrong. She hoped that he didn't think that she was some poor girl feeling sorry for herself because her long distance ass of a boyfriend had cheated on her. Especially considering how she didn't feel that way one bit. She didn't know why she cared what Nathan though about her, but she did. She also knew it wasn't such a good idea for her to like him as much as she did. She hardly knew him, but that was only half of what scared her. Although Nathan had been nothing but nice to her, she still couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something more to him that she didn't know about. It could possibly have to do with her hearing how he was such a player and only thing he cared about finding a girl for the night. He didn't really come across as the relationship kind of guy and she definitely was not the kind of girl who had a no-strings attached kind of relationship. Besides, she really didn't need another guy in her life who would hurt her or break her trust or anything else of that sort. It scared her how much she knew she liked him. She shouldn't like him. Was it even possible to like someone this much without even knowing them?

She didn't know anything anymore. Except she did know that she needed to have some fun and she knew exactly who she was going to call.

As the orange ball was effortlessly shot into the air it swished through the net perfectly. It was the game winning shot. 22-16; Nathan verses Lucas. Not that it really mattered anyway. They stuck around after basketball practice and played a few games. They were only playing for fun, like they used to when they were kids. It was like before they had become old enough to join a real team. Nathan had always had a great talent when it came to basketball, not that Lucas didn't, but it was Nathan who had just that little bit more of talent, a little bit more of a love for the game. But then it was also Nathan who received the pressure. Their father had always pushed them to keep doing better. They couldn't do anything right, especially when it came to basketball. He criticized their every move on the court. He let them know everything that they had done wrong or what they hadn't even done at all. Except Nathan was always pushed harder, criticized more, pressured more and he had always hated his father for it. It started when they were younger, but the worst was all throughout high school. Dan couldn't stand Nathan playing bad, but the thing he couldn't stand more than that was when Nathan would play better than he had during his high school glory days. He tried reliving everything through his sons. Seeing that Nathan had inherited more of the Scott family talent at playing basketball than Lucas had inherited, Dan had chosen Nathan to relive his basketball days through. It killed Nathan. It drove him to the point of taking drugs at one time when he was sixteen. He stopped that after passing out on the court in the middle of a game. When everything was said and done, Nathan had beat his father's records at Tree Hill High School and Dan was furious. Yes, he wanted Nathan to be the best. No, he did not want Nathan to be better than he was because in Dan's mind, no one could be better than himself.

"You lose. Again" Nathan smirked at his slightly older brother. It was their second game that day and Lucas had lost both of them.

Lucas gulped down the last bit of his Gatorade and wiped the sweat off of his forehead using the bottom of his t-shirt. "Yeah, whatever. You got lucky."

Nathan laughed. "If that's what you have to keep telling yourself." He smirked.

"I let you win." Lucas laughed, knowing his brother beat him fairly. "So, it's Friday. What are your plans tonight?" He questioned, wondering what Nathan had in mind for later that night.

"Uh, don't know yet. There will be a few parties somewhere. I'll be at one of them, I guess. What are you doing? Following Brooke around like a little lap dog?" Nathan teased. He was always on his brother's case for being 'whipped'.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Shut up, man. I don't follow Brooke around." Lucas defended. "Anyway, we're supposed to go some party that she wants to go to."

"As I was I saying, you're so whipped. Grow a backbone, man." Nathan partly teased. He couldn't imagine being like Lucas and doing everything a girl told him or wanted him to, but then again he knew how much Lucas really loved Brooke and that he wanted to do whatever he had to, to make her happy, if that meant going to parties then that was fine with him.

"You're just jealous." Lucas joked as his cell phone started ringing. "Hold on a second, it's Brooke."

"That's not a surprise." Nathan muttered while Lucas was talking on the phone.

After saying goodbye to Brooke, Lucas turned around and faced Nathan. "So you want to go to a party? I have to meet Brooke there later. She's going with Haley."

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Haley as in Haley James? With Brooke? Since when did they become friends?" He asked.

Lucas shrugged. "Since, and I repeat, 'they clicked after Peyton introduced them'. Brooke's words, not mine." Lucas quoted.

"I didn't really see them as best friends." Nathan said.

"Yeah, me either, but Haley's cool." Lucas responded.

"How do you know? When have you guys been together?" Nathan asked, a little jealous that Lucas was hanging out with Haley without him.

"When I first called you to tell you that I found her and she's in two of my classes." Lucas answered. Him and Haley had only talked a couple of times, but they were beginning to get to know each other and from what Lucas could tell Haley was a really cool girl, in a platonic only kind of way. "So, Brooke told me that Haley is newly single." Lucas tried to mention casually, but failed to do so. He knew that Nathan would probably avoid the subject if it had anything to do with him and how he was feeling. Anger was pretty much the only emotion anyone ever saw from Nathan. He hid his feelings from everyone and didn't let anyone know what he was really thinking or feeling.

"Yeah." Nathan answered shortly, just as Lucas had expected him to

"What are you going to do about it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You obviously want her. Are you trying to tell me that you aren't going to make a move, especially now that she is single?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"We'll see." Nate answered "Let's go. I need a shower and food." He didn't really feel like getting into this with his brother. He still wasn't sure about everything that was going on with Haley. He knew he liked her. But he knew that she was different. Haley wouldn't be one of the girls he sleeps with for one night and sneaks away early the next morning. She wouldn't be and she couldn't be. She definitely did not seem like that kind of girl. He knew that she wasn't one to have random hook-ups and that was what he did. Love 'em and leave 'em as some would say. He wasn't even sure if he wanted that with Haley. He didn't know what he wanted. Plus, he wasn't even sure what Haley thought or felt about him. Everything was fine when he knew that she had a boyfriend because there was boundaries already set for him, but now she was single and Haley James was fair game. The question plaguing his mind was what did Nathan want from her?

"H. James!" Brooke knocked on the door, using the new nickname she had given Haley. Earlier that day, Haley had called Brooke telling her that she needed some fun and Brooke suggested them going to a party or two tonight. It was Friday night after all. Haley agreed and Brooke informed Haley that she would be coming over with all of the essentials. Clothes, make-up, accessories, shoes, and everything else that Brooke had deemed necessary.

The door flung open showcasing a pajama clad Haley with a yellow towel wrapped firmly around her still wet from her shower hair, sitting on top of her head. "Hey Brooke! Come in. Okay, so I just finished my shower like you told me to." Haley said to her.

"Perfect." Brooke said as she clasped her hands together. "Sit." She said ushering Haley to be seated on the bed. "I already have an outfit for you picked out. It will look great, I promise. Now, don't say anything when you see it. Just try it on okay?"

Haley gave Brooke a look wondering why she would have said that to her. Haley hoped that the outfit wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be due to Brooke's miniature speech. "I guess, but I am not leaving this dorm looking like I should be working a pole. Got it?" Haley asked seriously. There was no way in hell that Brooke was going to dress her up as Slut Barbie.

Brooke passed Haley a bag filled with clothes and Haley groaned before reluctantly taking it out of Brooke's hands and trudging into the bathroom. She prayed that the outfit was fine, but for some reason she had a really bad feeling about this. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Fifteen minutes later.

"Haley, open the door!" Brooke demanded.

"No! Not a chance in hell am I leaving looking like this." Haley yelled back.

"Haley James, I can be just as stubborn as you can be and I want to see you in the outfit. You have two minutes to open this door before I start calling for reinforcements." Brooke told her. She had been trying to get Haley to come out of the bathroom for ten minutes straight now and nothing was working. Haley had locked herself in the bathroom and wouldn't come out. She was so stubborn.

"What kind of reinforcements?" Haley curiously asked. What was Brooke going to do, break the door the down?

"I don't know yet, but it won't be pretty. I promise. Now, please open the door. Please, Haley. I just want to see what you look like." Brooke begged. Haley was probably over-exaggerating.

Inside of the bathroom Haley sighed. "Okay, just give me a minute." She said finally agreeing to unlock the door and let Brooke see her. She knew that Brooke wasn't going to give in so there was no point in them arguing for even longer. They had already been doing so for the last ten minutes.

Haley looked at herself again in the mirror. It was exactly what she didn't want. Slut Barbie. The skirt Brooke had her wearing was way too short and if she moved at all it would surely go up the half of an inch so that you could see her ass. Then there was the top. It seemed like it should have been labeled two times too small. The entire bottom half of her stomach was showing and her boobs were basically pouring out the top of it. She would let Brooke see her, but there was no way that she was leaving like this. If it came down to it she would just stay in.

Haley reluctantly unlocked the bathroom door and opened it to a waiting Brooke. Brooke stared at Haley intently and Haley felt nervous under her gaze.

"It's not that bad." Brooke said, trying to make it better than it actually was. Maybe she did go a little bit overboard when trying to find Haley a less conservative outfit. She was only trying to help.

Haley's eyes practically popped out of her head when she heard Brooke say that. "Are you kidding me? Sexy not slutty, Brooke. Seriously, this outfit screams whore."

"Okay, okay. I got it." Brooke said before rushing back over to dig through the bag she brought. "Aha!" She exclaimed once she found what she was looking for. She threw a pair of dark jeans at Haley. "Try these on." She said before pushing Haley back into the bathroom.

"But, what about this top?" Haley asked. "If you could even call it that." She muttered under her breath so Brooke wouldn't be able to hear her.

"We'll worry about that after you get those jeans on." Brooke informed her. "So, where's P. Sawyer tonight?"

"Um, actually she said something about going to visit her dad for the weekend." Haley answered through the door while pulling the jeans on and zipping them up.

"Interesting." Brooke said as the bathroom door opened and Haley came out. "Haley, you look great in those!" Brooke exclaimed.

"You think so?" Haley asked, crinkling her nose.

Brooke nodded her head vigorously. "Hell yes! You are so wearing those. In fact, you can keep those. They look a lot better on you than they do on me and trust me, I never say that."

Haley's eyes widened. "Brooke, I can't keep your jeans. You bought them and they were probably expensive knowing you." Haley said recalling the trip to the mall she went on with Peyton and Brooke a few weekends ago.

Brooke carelessly waved her hand the air. "Doesn't matter. Daddy's credit card bought them, not me. I'll get another pair, ones that look better on me. You're keeping them. End of story. Plus there's no point in arguing with me because they look so great on you."

Haley rolled her eyes. Of course Brooke would just give away jeans like that to buy a new pair. "Thanks Brooke." She agreed knowing that Brooke would keep giving them to her until she took them anyway. "So, about this top."

The music was blaring throughout the house loudly and she was in the middle of the floor swinging her hips back and forth, dancing by herself. Or at least she was trying to. She was obviously drunk and stumbling. He was standing with a group of people, but he was watching her. He hadn't really considered her a drinker. He wondered if it was her way of dealing with what happened earlier that week. Finally he decided that he would go over to her. He hadn't seen her since the morning they had breakfast and she looked like she could use a friend right about now, or at least someone to keep her from falling down.

He felt someone attach their self to his arm before he heard her speak. "Nathan." The girl spoke. "I missed you." She purred.

Nathan inwardly groaned and clenched his eyes shut at the voice. He knew that voice. He hated hearing that voice because of the person it belonged to. He opened his eyes and shook his arm out of the girl's grasp. "What do you want?" He said without looking at her.

"I told you already, I missed you. I know you missed me too." She said to him as she pulled on his arm to turn him around to face her, his back to the group he had just been supposedly talking with.

"Not really, no." He said before walking away. He needed a drink. A strong one. Or two.

She was dancing to the music alone. Swinging her hips from side to side. Stumbling here and there, but she didn't care. She just wanted to have some fun. She needed fun. She felt someone come up behind her, putting their hands on her hips and dancing with her, but she didn't turn around to see who it was because right now she didn't really care. All her morals and inhibitions were out the window. The alcohol was having effects on her. She knew she shouldn't have drank as much as she already did, but she wanted to relax, have fun, and not care about anything and alcohol was the easiest way to just that. Looking around the room she spotted Nathan. He was talking to some girl and she felt a pang of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. She knew that she liked Nathan. She wished that he was with her, but of course he was talking to the pretty and tall girl in front of him. She continued dancing with whoever was behind her and turned around to face a tall guy with blonde hair.

After five or six drinks, maybe it was seven, he didn't know anymore because he couldn't remember how many he had, he walked around the groups of people in search for Lucas. He wanted Lucas to take him home so he could go to sleep. Lucas was assigned the position of being the designated driver for tonight. Actually, usually Lucas always the designated driver. He didn't really care for drinking anyway, so it wasn't like he really minded. He weaved in and out of different people. Instead of finding his brother he found Haley and some guy dancing, really close together. He remembered Haley attempting, due to drinking, to dance earlier, but she had been by herself. He scowled at the guy that was holding onto her waist. He was the one who liked her, that should be him, not some guy who liked like he was a surfer wannabe from California when really in reality he had never been to a beach before. He contemplated going over there, but decided against it after thinking that it would probably get Haley mad at him and he didn't want that.

Another song later and she was still dancing with the same guy. She was getting tired and she felt like she was going to pass out soon. She wanted to go find Brooke so she could find a way to get home. Haley tried pulling away from the guy, but it didn't work because he had a firm grip on her hips. She tried pulling away again, but his grip only got tighter. She wanted to cry. Why wasn't he letting go of her? She didn't even know him. It wasn't like she had asked him to dance with her, he came up to her while she was dancing and minding her own business.

"What are you doing? I don't feel like dancing anymore." Haley said as his grip got a little more tighter. She felt fragile under the strength of his grasp. She didn't like this.

He kept trying to dance. "What, you don't want to dance anymore?" He asked, feigning pretend shock. "Why not? You couldn't get enough of dancing when you were alone. Don't like dancing with a partner?" He taunted her.

What was this guy's problem? She didn't want to dance with him, it wasn't like it was the end of the world. She shook her head. "I just want to leave. Please let go of me." She spoke quietly and timidly.

"I'll take you home. My place or yours?" He asked with an evil smile on his face. He kept one hand firmly on her waist and moved the other to grab her wrist, beginning to pull her towards the door.

"Stop it." She said as firmly as she possibly could. "I already have a ride home. Let go of me." Haley said to him, but he wasn't listening. With her free hand she reached up to slap his face. "I said let go of me."

He let go of her wrist to bring his hand up to touch his cheek. "Stupid bitch, what the hell?" He growled. Thankfully, everyone was either too drunk or busy to notice what was going on because Haley didn't want to cause a scene over something that she could handle.

She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the hand that was still on her waist, wrenching it away from her. "I said I didn't want to leave with you."

The guy glared at her. "Whatever. Your actions claimed otherwise. You're such a tease. Fucking slut." He said before walking away.

Haley felt like crying. No one had ever said such mean things to her before in her whole life. That guy was such an asshole. She wanted to find a hole to crawl into and never come out. Was she really a tease? She never considered herself to be one, but did anyone ever really consider themselves of those kinds of things? At least she knew that she wasn't a slut. She walked through the house and found realized that she couldn't find Brooke. She was so tired though. Haley wandered around until she found a room with a couch in it. There wasn't anyone in there so she laid down on it. She didn't think it would be a problem, plus she was only going to lay down for five minutes and then she would go back and continue to look and for Brooke some more.

"Ready to go?" Lucas asked walking up to his brother.

Nathan only looked at him and nodded.

"Come on, help me find Brooke." Lucas said. Ten minutes later they found Brooke. "Brooke, let's go."

"We can't leave. I have to find Haley." Brooke told him. "Help me find her."

They looked everywhere, but they couldn't seem it find her anywhere. "Brooke are you sure that she didn't leave already?" Lucas asked. They looked everywhere and he didn't know where else she could be.

"Yes, Lucas. We had a plan. Come together. Have fun together. Leave together." Brooke told him as she explained the plan her and Haley had made. "Keep looking." She demanded. She wasn't going to leave Haley there. What kind of friend would she be if she did that to Haley? "Split up."

"Lucas, I found Haley!" She exclaimed running over to him and Nathan.

"Great, where is she?" He asked, noticing Brooke was by herself.

"That's the thing. She's passed out on a couch and I can't carry her, so..."Brooke trailed off. "Come on, follow me." She said motioning with her hand for the two boys to follow her lead.

Nathan picked Haley up off the couch. She was passed out cold. He knew she had been drinking, but now he wondered how much it had actually been. At least she wasn't unconscious. He carried her out to Lucas' car and climbed into the backseat with her. Lucas driving and Brooke in the front passenger seat.

Brooke informed them that Haley lived in the same dorm building as they did, so Lucas dropped Brooke off at her building since she was in a different one. She told them Haley's room number and said goodbye after Lucas agreed to take her to get her car the next day.

Nathan carried Haley into the building. They reached room twenty-five, Haley's room, but when Lucas tried to open the door he found it locked. He turned to face Nathan. "It's locked. What are we going to do?" He asked.

"Knock. Maybe Peyton's in there." Nathan suggested.

Lucas shook his head. "Brooke said that Peyton left for the weekend." He explained.

Nathan stared at him. "Well, then what do we with her?" He asked his brother.

Lucas sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I guess we have to take her to our room. We can't leave her outside her door and it's not like we have anywhere else to put her."

Nathan thought about before nodding, knowing that his brother was right. "I guess so." He said while turning around and walking down the hallway to room number twenty-one. He didn't even know that Haley lived in the same building, not to mention down the hallway from him. He wondered how he had seen her basically everywhere else but not here.


	7. The Next Day

**Hey, before I get to the chapter I have a couple things to say. First, thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Second, sorry if you didn't like Haley being out of character by drinking, but it's explained more in this chapter, but thanks for your honesty. Third, I only know some of the James kid's names, but I've seen all these ones used repeatedly in other stories so I'm using them too. I think that's all. Hope you like the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think. Thanks.**

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The sun shone brightly throughout the room, streaming in between the blinds covering the window, but she kept her eyes tightly clenched shut. Her head was pounding, but she wasn't sure why. Until she remembered going to a party with Brooke the night before. Obviously she had a little bit too much to drink because this was the worst headache she had ever had. Just great, she thought to herself, she didn't need a killer hangover, but lucky her, she gets one anyway. She silently cursed to herself for drinking so much the night before.

Memories came flooding back like an overflowing river. Her drinking. Her dancing alone. A guy coming to dance with her. Said guy not letting go of her. Said guy trying to bring her home. Her slapping said guy. Said guy getting mad and saying the meanest things to her that she had heard her whole life. Her looking for Brooke. Her not finding Brooke. Her finding a couch. But not one memory was how she got home. Shit. How did she get home?

Her eyes quickly opened and she shot up, which did wonders for her head, in what she thought to be her own bed. Looking around she noticed that it wasn't her bed. In fact, it wasn't even her own room. Where the hell was she and how did she get there? She quickly checked to make sure she was still wearing all of her clothes, which thank God she was. She was still a virgin. She had never found that one person that she had wanted to share that gift with yet and she would have hated her first time to be some experience that she didn't even remember because she was drunk with a stranger that she didn't even know until the night before. Thank God she was still completely dressed.

She looked down and saw a dark blue comforter, matching dark blue pillowcases, and black sheets. Her eyebrows furrowed together not recognizing the bed she was currently sitting on. Looking across the room, seeing the other bed didn't seem to be helping her figure out where she was. It was obvious that this room belonged to two guys. Two completely different guys. The half of the room that was opposite of her was actually pretty clean. There was a pile of books against the wall and a school bag next to the bed, but other than that there wasn't anything creating mess or clutter. Unlike the other half of the room, the side she was on was so messy. There was a huge pile of clothes in one corner and Haley guessed that they most likely needed to be washed. Then there was a blue Duke Blue Devils duffel bag with a basketball sitting on top. Apparently, she was in one of the basketball player's room. There was a few pairs of sneakers laying around and Haley was beginning to believe that this person did not like to use the closet. There was a backpack laying on the floor with a few books sticking out. In the middle of the room was a television and a game console with controllers carelessly tossed aside, a few video game cases surrounding it. On the night stand there was an alarm clock and a couple bills of cash. None of these things stood out to her that would let her know where the hell she was. Or how she even got there for that matter.

Haley didn't know what to do. Should she get up and look around to see if she could figure out who lived in this room or should she just leave and go back to her own room? After a few seconds of contemplating the different options in her mind she eventually decided on leaving. Maybe it wouldn't be as embarrassing if she didn't know what happened and who's room this was.

Before Haley could even get up off the bed, the bathroom door opened and none other than, Nathan Scott walked out. Wearing only a towel that rested loosely on his waist. Haley's eyes visibly widened. She knew that Nathan had good looks, but seeing him in only a towel made that the understatement of the century. Damn, he had a good body. It seemed perfect and she couldn't stop staring. She realized what she was doing and slightly shook her head before opening and reopening her eyes. He was still there. Still in only a towel.

"You're awake." He stated the obvious, clearly surprised that she wasn't still sleeping.

Haley nodded her head, but realized what a mistake that was as her head throbbed. "Um, yeah, I'm awake." She said still trying not to stare at his perfect chest.

"There's some aspirin in the bathroom." He said pointing towards the door he had just emerged from moments ago.

Haley nodded and got up off of the bed slowly, careful not to add anymore pain to her headache. "Thanks." She told him before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. After finding the bottle of aspirin and splashing some cold water on her face she took a deep breath and was ready to go back to Nathan. Haley opened the door to see Nathan completely dressed as he finished pulling his polo shit over his head. He turned around to see Haley coming out of the bathroom. "So, why and how did I get here exactly?" She asked. She had no clue what happened after she found that couch.

Nathan sat down on his bed. "Uh, Brooke found you sleeping on a couch so I carried you to the car and Brooke told us, Lucas and I, that you live in this building too, so we dropped her off and then came here. When went to your dorm it was locked and we didn't have a key. Lucas said that Brooke told him Peyton was out of town for the weekend. We didn't have anywhere to put you so you slept here. Personally, from all that you drank the night before I thought you would still be sleeping for at least a coupe more hours." He explained.

Haley gave him a small smile. "Thank you. I think that maybe I had just a little bit too much to drink last night." She laughed.

"You think?" He joked. "You thought you were dancing, but really, you were stumbling." He laughed with her.

"You, um, you were watching?" She asked seriously.

Nathan nodded. "Maybe a little." He admitted. "So I bet you're starving." He said.

"Well, then you win the bet because I am so hungry."

"Lets go get something to eat then. You probably need hangover food. My treat." He said, grabbing some money off of the night stand next to the bed she had been laying on.

"Mmm, food sounds so delicious right now." She said as her stomach rumbled right on cue, before quickly remembering that she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before. "Nathan, I need to change my clothes first."

Nathan turned and looked at her for a minute. "No you don't. You look great in those jeans." He insisted with a smirk plastered on his face as he winked at her. "Lets go." He said.

Haley just shook her head and smiled. "Well then, I'm glad that I let Brooke give me these jeans last night. But, Nathan you bought me breakfast earlier this week. How about I buy?" She asked, hoping he would say yes.

"You don't have any money." He stated knowingly.

Haley opened her mouth to protest when she realized that he was right. She only had about five dollars in her back pocket and her cell phone. "Okay fine, but I'm paying you back somehow." She insisted. "Okay, well, I still need to get into my dorm. Got any ideas how to get in." She asked.

After Nathan was ready to go they came up with trying to pick the lock on Haley's door. No luck. She guessed that was a good thing in case anyone ever tried breaking into her and Peyton's dorm. When that didn't work, Haley decided to go down to the student housing office to see if they could give her a copy of her key.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could give me a copy of the key to dorm twenty-five." Haley politely asked the older woman. She was a little more plump than most women and she looked to be about in her fifties. She had short black hair and dark eyes with glasses. She wore a red business suit, even though he job consisted of sitting in that office, and she wore a hand-written name tag that was impossible to read.

The woman glanced up at Haley before continuing to do whatever it was that she had been previously occupied with. "Miss, I cannot go around just handing out keys to rooms. It is against policy."

"I understand that, but I live there. I lost my key and I'm locked out and my roommate is out of town." Haley tried explaining her situation. The woman glared at Haley as if she was making up some far fetched lie. "Please, I just need to get in my room. I can return the key it you want me to." Haley pleaded.

The woman tapped her pen against her desk and stared at Haley. "Did you not just hear me say it is against policy for me to give out keys." She asked. "You know, I thought that the school would have picked some smarter kids to attend here. Maybe ones that can hear too." She continued rather rudely, then returning to the work in front of her. Haley decided that she did not like this lady. This woman was making her head throb even more. Haley already concluded that this woman was crazy, it wasn't as if Haley didn't live in the room.

Haley's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?" Haley asked disbelievingly. "I'll have you know that I can hear you perfectly fine, not to mention I have a 4.0 grade point average and I have no idea what that has to do with me needing a key to get into my room." She pointed out. What was this woman's problem? All she wanted to do was get in room, get some money, and then proceed to go out to breakfast with Nathan.

"What's your name?" She growled.

"Haley James. I live in room twenty-five. I promise I will bring the key back." Haley answered.

"You need to buy a new one. Ten dollars." She told Haley.

"Ten dollars for a new key? Are you serious? That's outrageous!" Haley exclaimed.

The woman slammed her pen on the desk and stared at Haley. "Look, do you want the key or not? Ten dollars!"

Haley ran a hand through her slightly messed up hair. She pulled her cell phone and a five dollar bill and put it on the counter in front of the woman. "This is all I have with me. I only five dollars. I can give you the other five once I get into my room."

The woman snatched the five dollar bill off of the counter and slammed a key down next to the cell phone. "Just take it. Don't lose this one." She snarled before going back to her work once again as Haley scoffed and walked away.

"What took you so long?" Nathan questioned as she finally reached her dorm room with the new key. She had been gone for at least fifteen minutes. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think it took that long to get a key.

Haley let out a frustrated sigh, blowing her bangs up a little bit. "The lady working there wouldn't give me a key at first. She was really mean too. I don't know what her problem was. What a grouch." She explained as she opened the door to her dorm room with her new key.

Nathan walked in and looked around as her waited for Haley to get whatever it was that she needed. On one side of the room was a bed with black pillowcases and a red comforter. There was hand-drawn art on the walls, they were really good although some of them were a little on the dark side, if you know what he means and a few sketchbooks were on the floor. Then there was boxes labeled records and piles of CDs sitting on the night stand. By looking at it he knew that that side of the room belonged to Peyton. On the other side of the room the bed had a light yellow comforter with white pillowcases. There was a laptop sitting on top of the neatly made bed. A pile of school books sat on a desk and then there was a few regular books with them. This side of the room screamed Haley due to the all the books. He knew that she took school very seriously.

Nathan, himself, had never actually been that into school. Especially during high school. He was never too concerned with getting good grades because he knew that he would be able to get into college just by playing basketball. He only did what was necessary in order for him to graduate. Even last year, his first year of university, all he really cared about was playing basketball. Now, this year, the school was telling him that if he wanted to keep his scholarship that he needed to do well in school also. It was a privilege to play basketball or something. He didn't really pay attention during that speech. At first he didn't want to go to college at all, he would have rather gotten drafted straight into the NBA right out of high school, but if something ever happened to him so that he couldn't play basketball anymore then he needed something to fall back on and that was where college came in. He was majoring in business just in case basketball ended up not working out for him, although he hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

"Ready?" Haley asked as she came to stand in front of him. She grabbed her purse, took some more aspirin for her headache, which wasn't as bad as it was when she first woke up and brushed her hair before she was ready to go to breakfast. She was starving.

Nathan noticed that Haley was ready to go and nodded his head. They got into Nathan's car and then proceeded to go to breakfast. The two of the ended up at a diner that was about ten minutes away from the dorms.

Breakfast was good. The food was great and Nathan and Haley had fun talking and joking with each other. When they were together, everything was so carefree and stress free. Haley loved talking with Nathan. It was so easy for her to talk to him, she felt like she could tell him whatever she wanted. She was able to just be herself around him and not care about anything.

"So, thanks for letting me sleep in your dorm last night and not just leaving me in the hallway or worse on the couch at the party." Haley said sincerely. She was so grateful that he had taken care of her. The doubts she had had about Nathan being sweet all of the time were gradually decreasing. He had a special charm about him and she couldn't get enough of it.

Nathan nodded. "It was no problem." He answered. "When Luke told me your room was locked I didn't know what to do with you. It was his idea, really."

Haley smiled. "Still. Thanks." She told him. "I didn't really plan on that happening. I know I was going to go to the party and get drunk. Honestly, I wasn't even planning on drinking. I just wanted to forget everything for awhile, you know? I didn't think that I was actually that upset by what had happened in New York, but I guess it effected me more than I realized. But I'm over it now. I don't even know why I let it effect me as much as I did or why I drank as much as I did, that's not me. So, thanks, it means a lot to me." She told him honestly. "Sorry, for putting all that on you. You probably didn't want to hear all of that. I think I just needed to say to you." She apologized and took her lower lip in between her teeth.

Nathan shook his head. "No, it's okay. And you're welcome. I wouldn't just leave you in the hallway." He laughed. "Come on, lets go."

As promised, Nathan paid once again, not that he minded anyway. He had money even though he didn't have a job because his mother was always giving him and Lucas some cash. Surprisingly, Dan had encouraged this, claiming that it would hurt their game if they needed to get jobs otherwise there was no way he would approve of just handing them over money for no reason. Everything was always about basketball with him.

Once they got back to the dorm building, Haley then thanked Nathan again. They both remembered they other things they needed to go that day, therefore they decided it was time for them to go their separate ways.

Haley walked into her dorm room and sighed, she still had school work that she had to complete. She had a paper due tomorrow, but thankfully she had already started that. Haley walked over to her twin sized bed and sat down with her brand new white laptop perched on her lap.

The laptop had been a graduation gift from all of her older siblings. All of her brothers and sisters combined some money and bought her the laptop. She loved it. It was the perfect gift for her. She was so surprised to see all of her siblings at her high school graduation. Her entire family kept it a secret that they were all coming from their homes, all over the country. First there was the oldest James child, her brother Matthew or just Matt. He lived with his wife and daughter in Washington. Next was her oldest sister Quinn. She lived in Minnesota with her husband and three kids, pregnant with the fourth. Then there was Vivian, who lived in Maine, with her own husband and two kids. After that was her two twin brothers, Brian and Chris. Both of them lived in Massachusetts. Brian had recently gotten married, but her other brother was still living the single life. Next was Taylor. She was the sibling that was closest in age with Haley, they was only an age difference of three years. Taylor never stayed in one place, but the last Haley had heard Taylor was somewhere in Arizona. Last, was Haley. She was the baby of the James family and everyone always reminded her of it, not that she could forget anyway.

Two hours later and her paper was finally finished. Thank God. As much as Haley loved school, she hated writing papers. She looked around the room and noticed that she need to do some laundry and she groaned. That was another thing she dreaded. It wasn't so much the actually putting into the washing machine and then transferring it into the dry, but it was the folding the clean clothes she hated. It took a long time and then it always seemed as if things got wrinkled anyway. She wished she could go forever without have to do laundry, but she knew that was impossible and starting throwing clothes into a bag. Haley grabbed her bag of laundry, her purse, and a magazine for her to read while she waited in the laundromat and then she was on her way.

Her clothes were separated into two washing machines. The light clothes and the dark ones. She was catching up on her celebrity gossip, reading her newest issue of People magazine. She was digging around in her purse, looking for the pack of gum that she knew was in there when people started running over towards the door. Haley looked up confused. What the hell was going on? People were waving pens in the air and whatever scrap of paper they could find. She couldn't see anything over the mob of people so she didn't know what was going on. It seemed as if they were getting someone's autograph. She raised an eyebrow before returning to the search for the pack of gum. After finally finding it, Haley looked up. The crowed had slimmed down to only about three more people and the one and only Nathan, signing whatever they were giving him. Wait a second, Nathan? He was the one that everyone was crowding around and making a huge scene about? She couldn't help but laugh at this, maybe he really wasn't kidding when he told her that people ask him for his autograph.

"Wow, I had no idea you were so popular." Haley joked once the rest of the so-called fans disappeared back to where they where previous to Nathan's sudden appearance.

Nathan smirked as he walked over to her. "I told you everyone knew me and wanted my autograph. I bet you're reconsidering that now, huh?" He said.

"Um," Haley said and acted like she was pretending to think about it. "no, not really." She smiled.

"You'll regret it once I'm in the NBA." He informed her. "So, what are you doing here?" He asked.

She started laughing. "Laundry, duh. We are in a laundromat or did all that signing make you forget where you were?"

"You're funny." He said.

"I know." She said. "Are you following me, Nathan? You're everywhere I am." She joked.

"No, I think that maybe you're following me. You know considering I'm an amazingly hot and talented basketball player." Nathan smirked.

Haley laughed and shook her head. "You're unbelievable."

"So, uh, how do you work these things?" He asked referring to the washing machines with the hand that wasn't holding his bag of laundry.

"You're kidding right?" She asked looking at him. "You're not kidding." She said when she noticed the serious expression on his face. "You don't know how to do your own laundry?"

Nathan shook his head. "Are you going to help me?" He asked.

"I guess I do owe you for breakfast, huh?" Haley asked even though it was more of a statement than it was a question.

"Uh huh." Nathan agreed as he followed Haley over to an empty set of washers, coincidentally next to the ones she was using. She explained to Nathan about separating his light clothes and dark clothes and using cold water so that the colors didn't mix together and ruin the clothing. She told him to put the detergent in and then all he had to do was wait until that was done before transferring everything into the dryers.

Haley had just finished putting her clothes into the dryers and sat back down next to Nathan when a loud buzzing noise started occurring behind them. She turned around to see two washing machines overflowing with soap. Her eyes widened even more when she realized that those were the washing machines that Nathan was using. "Oh my God, Nathan!" Haley exclaimed.

Nathan turned around in his seat to see what was going on. "Shit." He cursed under his breath as he noticed what was happening. It wasn't his fault exactly. He never did laundry.

The man that was working at the laundromat ran over to turn off the machines as he slid all over the floor. As soon as both of the machines were off he turned to see Nathan and Haley trying to hold back laughter. "You two!" He exclaimed pointing at them. "Clean this up!" He yelled furiously before pointing towards a mop and towels. He was so mad. Haley thought that she could actually see steam coming out of his ears.

Haley turned to face Nathan. "You heard him, go clean up your mess, Scott." She said.

"He said you have to help me." Nathan told her.

"Fine." She pouted. She didn't feel like getting yelled at by that angry old guy anymore. If she got banned from the laundromat she would have to drive another fifteen minutes away to get to the next one and that wasn't happening.

As they were cleaning up Nathan's soapy mess, Haley felt herself slipping. She grabbed Nathan's arm, hoping to keep herself from falling, but she had caught him off guard making the both of them falling onto the floor in the soapy puddles. Haley started hysterically laughing, but by the look on Nathan's face, he apparently didn't find it funny. She grabbed some of the soapy bubbles in the palm of her hand and blew them at Nathan, the bubbles landing on his face and Haley laughing even harder.

"Haley!" Nathan exclaimed as he wiped the bubbles off of his face. He laughed, picking up a handful of bubbles and reached over to put them on her face.

Haley wiped them off. "I thought we were cleaning." She said pretending to act mad, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Hey, I'm innocent." He said raising his hands. "You started it."

Haley leaned over. "You got something right here." She said as she smeared bubbles on his cheek and started laughing again.

Nathan looked at Haley and realized how pretty she was when she was laughing. It wasn't the first time he noticed this, but this time was different. He had an urge to kiss her. He wasn't sure if he should yet considering the break up with her boyfriend at the beginning of the week, but he couldn't stop himself. He leaned forward and captured her lips with his own, his hand resting on her cheek.


	8. Making Plans

**Ah sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I was stuck on how I wanted it for awhile and then I just had other things to do, but the chapter is here now. So thanks for waiting and thanks to everyone that reviewed the last chapter. Please review this chapter as well.**

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Haley was idly flipping through the shirts on the clothes rack while she waited for Brooke and Peyton to finish trying things on in the dressing rooms. The day before they had decided to go to the mall today to spend what Brooke called some 'necessary quality girl time' together. Not to mention that Brooke was complaining that it had been forever since she had last been to the mall, when in actuality it only been about a week. Maybe less. The three of them had been at the mall for three and a half hours already, right when it opened. It was a little after one-thirty and Haley was hungry. Her stomach was growling rather loudly. How long did it take to try things on? She was getting impatient and she didn't know what was taking so long. They must have been in the dressing rooms for at least what felt like fifteen minutes by now. This was taking forever.

"Finally!" Haley exclaimed as she saw Brooke and Peyton heading towards her. "What took so long? I'm starving." She complained. She was hungry and she was tired of being at the mall. It wasn't like she could by anything anyway, she was still looking for a job so that she could get some spending money.

"Relax Hales, we weren't in there that long. Besides I couldn't decide on what pair of jeans looked better on me." Brooke tried to justify.

"After ten minutes she decided to get both." Peyton spoke up.

"Great. Can we go eat now?" Haley asked.

"Yes, I'm hungry." Peyton agreed and then turned to face Brooke. "Come on Brooke, lets go."

"Fine." Brooke pouted. "I'll come back later by myself when I don't have you to ladies slowing me down." She joked even though Haley and Peyton knew that she actually did intend on coming back later on. "I just have to pay."

After paying for both pairs of her jeans, the girls headed towards Brooke's Volkswagen. "Oh, Lucas called while I was in line. He said him and Nathan were going to get lunch too, so I told him we would meet up with them. I hope your in the mood for pizza." Brooke informed her two best friends.

They walked into the pizza place where they would be meeting the Scott brothers. "Broody!" Brooke said as she skipped over to greet her beloved boyfriend, Peyton and Haley following behind her.

"Hey." Haley said to Nathan, giving him a smile.

_Nathan looked at Haley and realized how pretty she was when she was laughing. It wasn't the first time he noticed this, but this time was different. He had an urge to kiss her. He wasn't sure if he should yet considering the break up with her boyfriend at the beginning of the week, but he couldn't stop himself. He leaned forward and captured her lips with his own, his hand resting on her cheek. _

"_You two! When I said clean this mess up I meant NOW!" The angry worker started screaming at Nathan and Haley again. "Get to work, finish your laundry and GET OUT!" He yelled._

_  
Haley jumped away from Nathan as she heard the guy yelling. She looked at Nathan, only to see him trying not to laugh at the angry guy while he was still standing there. Although, she figured that the angry guy could tell that Nathan was basically laughing at him in front of his face. _

_Nathan had thrown his clothes into the dryers so that hopefully they would be done by the time him and Haley were finished cleaning up. The owner stood there watching Nathan and Haley the entire time that they were cleaning up the mess that Nathan had made. When they were finally finished, Nathan and Haley both folded their clothes before practically being shoved out of the laundromat as if they were going to just stay there and hang out anyway, especially while they had wet clothes on._

_As soon as the two exited the building they both started hysterically laughing once again as they watched the angry guy scowl at them and turn the sign on the door over so that it said 'closed'._

"_I am never doing laundry with you, Scott." Haley managed to get out through her fit of laughter._

"_It wasn't my fault." Nathan defended. "I've never done laundry before. Besides, you were the one who was telling me what to do." He argued._

_Haley's mouth dropped open. "Apparently, you weren't paying attention during the detergent part of my lesson." She said matter of factly as she teased him. She awkwardly coughed a little bit. "So, um, back in there," She said pointing to the inside of the laundromat. "you, um, when we kissed..." Haley trailed off, not really knowing what to say next. She was still kind of in shock that it happened. She wasn't expecting it, but it was nice, even if it was only about for two seconds before the angry owner guy started screaming at them to clean up the mess. _

_Nathan scratched the back of his neck. He didn't know why he was nervous, but he was. He was never nervous around any other girls, but then again Haley wasn't just any other girl. He hoped that she wasn't going to be mad that he had kissed her, well started to. Stupid angry owner. Nathan nodded his head silently urging her to continue._

"_Um, what was that for? I mean, I guess what I'm trying to ask is why did you do it?" She asked him and bit at her bottom lip while waiting for his reply. _

"_I don't know. I just had to." He said, unsure of what he was supposed to tell her. "Look, here's the thing Haley, I know that you had a recent break up and that I probably shouldn't have done that so soon because let's face it, I have no idea what you're ready for right now, but the truth is that I think I have been wanting to do that since I saw you in the grocery store that day." Nathan confessed. He figured that he might as well tell her the truth and who knows, maybe she might like him too._

_Haley looked up at him kind of shocked. "Really?" She asked in a small voice. _

_She didn't know why, but she was a little bit afraid of Nathan wanting to kiss her and then actually kissing her. Did that mean that he liked her or was he just looking for some action? She doubted the latter, only because she hadn't noticed any behavior from him that would have let her know, or at least hinted at that. But she was mostly afraid because of her own feelings for Nathan. She knew that she liked him, she was just having a hard time admitting it to herself. Seriously, what was she thinking? She had just gotten out of an on and off, close to two years, relationship. This was ridiculous. She couldn't like Nathan already. Not this soon after her break up. But then again, if she was honest with herself, she knew that deep down she had liked Nathan while she was still in that horrid relationship with Damien, which made her feel a little bad at first until she found out that he had been cheating on her for so long. _

_It didn't matter. She knew that she wasn't ready for anything right now. Right? 'Of course that was right.' She kept telling herself. There was no way that she would be able to get into anything now. First of all, she would probably have total trust issues for one and she didn't want that. Besides, she still wanted a little more time to be single, or that's what she tried to keep convincing herself at least. She needed to be just Haley._

"_Yeah. I think that I really like you Haley James. Or could?" He said honestly. This was all so new to him. He never did this kind of thing. Sure, he had like girls before for more than just for a night, but it had never been like this before. She was different. Haley James was completely different. Nathan didn't what this was, but it was definitely new and something he had never experienced before now. Maybe it was a good different. No, it was a good different. He knew it and he wasn't going to let her slip away now that she wasn't still dating her boyfriend, or now ex-boyfriend. _

_Haley slowly nodded her head. She knew exactly what he was trying to say because it was how she felt too. She knew that they hadn't known each other for a long period of time, but did it really matter? All she knew was that she liked the Nathan that she had come to know, even if it wasn't all of him. She knew that there was things about him that she didn't know, just like there was things that he didn't know about her, but she did know that she liked what she knew about him and she really liked what she saw. _

"_I know. I mean what I wanted to say was that I think I like you too. But do we even know each other good enough to say that to each other? Not that it really matters, I guess, because I like what I've come to know so far. Great, now I'm just endlessly rambling on." Haley rambled. She blushed once she realized she had just kept on talking and talking. Although, it would have not been the first time she hadn't stopped talking in front Nathan. No, the first time was when she actually first met him. Well, if you count bumping to him in the grocery store meeting someone. That was a little embarrassing, okay a lot embarrassing, but she regained her composure pretty quickly in that situation and tried to play everything off really cool and tried to act more confident and composed than she actually was. Maybe it worked. "So what did that mean?" She asked. She wanted to know what he thought about everything._

"_What do you want it to mean?" He retorted. _

_Haley rolled her eyed. Didn't she ask him that question? "Okay, here's the thing, I do like you, but I don't think that I'm ready to be anything with you, whatever it is that you would want us to be." She said and watched Nathan's face fall a little bit before he made sure that there was no emotion showing. "It's just that I don't want to have any issues, mostly trust ones because of, well you know. I just need a some more time to just be me and not to be attached to anyone." Haley explained to him._

"_So does that doesn't mean that you can't go on dates with anyone?" Nathan inquired._

_Haley raised an eyebrow. "Well, that depends." She stated._

"_On what?"_

"_On who the anyone is." Haley told him. _

_Nathan pretended to think for a minute before speaking. "Well, you remember my friend Tim, he has been asking for me to set him up with someone for awhile." He said with a serious face._

_Haley's face fell. "Oh, well, um, I don't really..." She trailed off, unsure of how to put it nicely that she didn't want to go on a date, make that any dates at all, ever, with Nathan's friend, Tim._

_Nathan broke out in fit of laughter. "Relax, I was only kidding, Haley." He managed to get out through his laughter. "Anyway, if it was me?" He asked, actually serious this time. As if he would ever set up a date for her and Tim. Yeah right._

"_Well, now I don't really know anymore. That was a mean joke, Scott." _

"_I'm sorry?" He tried, making sure that he didn't laugh this time._

"_I guess I can make an exception if you're the anyone." She said to him. "It we do go on a date, nothing too serious, okay?"_

_Nathan nodded. "You got it." He promised. She should have said when, not if. Of course he was going to ask her to go out on a date. "Does that mean that we can't kiss, since we'll only be dating?" He asked with a smirk on his face._

_Haley fake scoffed. "Nathan Scott, I do not kiss until at least the third date. Who do you think I am?" She asked pretending to be shocked._

_Nathan laughed. "Well, you did you just kiss me inside." He quipped._

"_Temporary brain malfunction." She stated as she started walking to car. "See you later." She called out to him over her shoulder._

_He smiled as he watched her walk away to her car before turning the opposite to find his own vehicle. _

"Hey. What are you doing here? Stalking me?" Nathan joked.

Haley playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please, don't flatter yourself. You don't a bigger ego. Brooke wanted to meet up with Lucas and I just so happened to be with her. Not to mention that I'm starving. Besides, I thought that we already established that you were the one that was stalking me." She replied, sliding into the booth next to Peyton, across from Brooke and Lucas.

Nathan shook his head as he sat down next to Haley. "No, I don't think we agreed on that. I believe that you are the one following me, but it's okay. I mean how you could not want to be around me all of the time, with my charm and good looks. You don't have to hide it, Hales. I know you want me." He joked.

"Whatever you say, Superstar. You feed your ego, but I'm feeding my stomach." Haley answered as she spotted the waiter coming over to the table they were occupying.

After everyone ordered and ate, Brooke was trying to drag reluctant Peyton and Haley back out. Apparently, they hadn't done enough shopping that morning. Haley cursed in her head. Why had she ever agreed to going shopping with Brooke that day. She had enough shopping from that morning, she didn't want to do anymore. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to buy anything anyway. She needed to save her money until she a some kind of part-time job because couldn't give her money forever, unlike Brooke.

Brooke grabbed Haley's wrist. "Haley James, lets go!" She demanded, but Haley wouldn't budge. Normally, Brooke would have been able to pull Haley up, but this time Haley was sitting down next to Nathan and she was holding onto his arm so that Brooke couldn't move her. Haley knew there was no way that Brooke would be able to move both her and Nathan or maybe just Nathan alone, but who really knew, as long as it was working and so far it was.

"No." Haley whined. "Brooke, I don't want to do anymore shopping." She cried out before turning to Nathan. "Save me." She told him and put on her best puppy dog pout. She was done shopping today. It was no fun when you couldn't buy things or when Brooke wouldn't let you buy what you actually wanted.

Peyton laughed at the interaction between her two friends.

"Zip it, Goldilocks." Brooke barked, but Peyton didn't take any offense. She knew Brooke wasn't truly mad at her for laughing.

"Brooke!" Haley exclaimed.

"What?" Brooke innocently asked.

"That was mean. And let go of my arm!" Haley responded.

"Brooke, come on, we've already went shopping this morning. We'll go again another day. You don't want to wipe out all of the stores in one day, do you?" Peyton tried to reason.

Haley mouthed a 'thank you' to Peyton when Brooke's death grip on Haley's arm loosened up a little bit as she raised an eyebrow at Peyton's words. "You know, you're right P. Sawyer, but I'm telling you that Haley is not allowed to come." She said sticking her tongue out at Haley while she let Haley's arm go.

Haley sighed a breath of relief. "Thank God." She muttered under her breath and Nathan chuckled. "What are you laughing at?" She scowled at him. This was not a laughing matter. Going shopping with Brooke was like stepping into a war zone and she wasn't doing that again anytime soon.

"Nothing." Nathan said while keeping in the rest of his laughter.

"Can we please go home now?" Haley begged Brooke. She was so tired. They had gotten up early to basically walk marathons around the mall. It was crazy.

Brooke shook her head. "No, I'm not going home. You can find another way to get there." Brooke told her before turning to Peyton who was conversing with her boyfriend about some kind of musical group. "Peyton, let's go. Sorry Boyfriend, but we have to go now." She said giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing Peyton's hand and pulling her out of the pizza place.

"Sorry Haley, but I got to go to the library to do some research for a paper for one of my classes. See you later at the dorm, Nate." Lucas said to them as he got up to leave.

Haley looked up at Nathan and smiled. "Want to do me a favor?" She politely asked.

"Depends. What is this favor that you ask?"

"Take me to the dorms? Please! I'm sure you have to go there anyway." Haley begged. She was so tired thanks to Brooke.

Nathan shrugged. "Yeah I could go there, but I wasn't planning on it."

"Well, where were you planning on going instead?" Haley asked him.

"The gym." He answered simply.

"But you're not even wearing the right kind of clothes to go there." She said noticing his polo shirt and jeans.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's kind of why there's a gym bag in my car." He smirked.

Haley pouted. "I don't want to walk back. It's far. And I don't have enough money for a cab." She said, thinking of more excuses as to why she needed him to drive her. Mostly because the pizza place wasn't that close to the dorm building and her legs were already going to fall off because Brooke made them walk the whole mall two times before buying anything and then about another ten times while buying things. It was completely ridiculous. Brooke was a nut case when she was shopping. Okay, so maybe she was a little crazy all of the time, but shopping made it about ten times worse.

"Fine Hales, I'll go all the way back to the dorms just for you." He exaggerated.

Haley smiled, satisfied with Nathan's answer. "Thank you" She said sweetly.

Nathan nodded. "Uh huh. Lets go." He said, leading Haley out of the pizza place and to where he parked his car.

Nathan glanced sideways at Haley before returning his gaze back to the road. "So, when are we going to go out on that date that you had agreed to?" He questioned.

"Date? What date? I don't know what you're talking about." She pretended to play dumb.

"What are doing next weekend?" He asked her ignoring the fact that she had acted as if she did not know what he was talking about.

"I don't know yet. Although, something tells me that I just might be going out with you sometime during the weekend."Haley replied.

"Well, then you're right."

"And where are you going to take me, Scott?"

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "That's a surprise. I can't tell you that information."

Haley pouted. "I want to know. Please."

"Nope. You'll have to wait until next weekend." He said as they pulled up to the dorm building.

"Nathan." Haley whined. "Please tell me."

He shook his head. "No. Be patient."

"Fine." She said opening the car door to get out. "Thanks for taking me back even though you were maybe going to the gym." She said with a fake scowl. She wanted to know where they were going. This was not fair. To her at least.

Nathan smirked. "Bye." He said before pulling away.


	9. Getting Ready

**Hey everybody. Thanks to those that reviewed. This chapter ended up getting really long so I had to split it up into tow different ones. It should be up soon. I hope you like it. Please review.**

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She stepped out of the steamy hot shower and wrapped a cream colored towel around her dripping wet body. She used one of her hands to wipe away some of the fog on the mirror. As the fog came back almost immediately, she opened the cabinet underneath the sink to pull out the hair dryer. She plugged it in and used it to de-fog the mirror and soon after dry her honey blonde hair.

She pulled herself up to sit on top of the bathroom counter while she waited for Brooke to come over. She wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not, but she needed help deciding on what to wear tonight. Haley had no clue what to wear for her date with Nathan. And it didn't help that he wouldn't tell her where he was going to take her. He said it was a surprise and he wasn't giving any hints.

It had been a week since the dreadful laundromat incident and also a week since Haley had agreed to go out on a date with Nathan. All week she had been asking him to tell her where they were going to go for their date, but he wouldn't give in. Haley had been trying to get some hints from him, but that hadn't seemed to be working out either. She had even tried to pull the 'If you don't at least give me any hints as to where we are going, then I won't know what I should wear.' except Nathan had only smirked and replied with 'You don't have to wear anything, if you don't want to.' Of course, Nathan would say something like that to her, so she eventually just gave up.

The sound of knocking on the door pulled Haley out of her thoughts. She hopped off the counter and walked towards the door to the dorm, laughing as she could hear Brooke talking to her from outside. She smiled as she opened the door, but her smile faltered once she saw Brooke rolling a rather large bright pink suitcase into the dorm.

"Brooke, why are you bringing a suitcase over?" Haley raised an eyebrow and suspiciously questioned her friend. Somehow Haley already knew that this could not mean anything good for her.

After shutting the door Brooke turned to face Haley with an 'are you really asking why I have suitcase' look. Haley gulped. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer to her question anymore. "You're going to need something to wear, so I took the liberty of bringing you some of my clothes. Don't worry, we have an outfit for every kind of date that you could be going on." Brooke informed Haley.

Brooke was so excited that Haley was going on a date with Nathan. She liked Haley. Haley was definitely a better choice than all of those other bimbos that Nathan used to date or just hook up with. Brooke really wanted this to work out for them. She had been trying to get Nathan to date girls like Haley for a while. Well, maybe not even like Haley, but just less slutty then what he went for back in high school.

"Oh God. Please help me." Haley muttered and put her head in her hands. Now she knew she was right; this was definitely not a good idea. In fact, it was a horrible idea. She didn't dress the same way as Brooke did. She couldn't help but think that this was going to be a repeat of the night of the party a few weeks ago. She could only hope and pray that that wouldn't be the case.

"Oh come on Haley, you'll look great. I promise."

Haley eyed Brooke cautiously. "I don't know. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea anymore. I mean you said that the night of the party and well, you know how that turned out." Haley tried to explain.

Brooke nodded her head vigorously. "Uh, yeah, those jeans looked so great on you that I didn't even want to wear them anymore, in case you have forgotten." She reminded Haley.

"Yeah, but before that was a disaster." Haley tried making excuses, but she had to admit she really did like those jeans. They were her favorite pair now.

"Stop complaining and trying to get rid of me because the suitcase makes you horrified. Go finish doing your hair. It'll give me some time to contemplate your date apparel." Brooke commanded.

"You know what contemplate means?"

Brooke scoffed. "Yes, Haley. I have a big vocabulary too, you know."

Haley squinted her eyes at her. "Where'd you learn it?"

"Okay, okay, fine. So Peyton said it one time and I made her explain it to me. But that was a long time ago, so I've known what it means for awhile." Brooke said. "So, what kind of date it this going to be?" She asked.

Haley just shook her head and laughed. "Um, I actually have no clue. Nathan won't tell me anything. He said it's a surprise and that I couldn't know anything about it and then I was stuck on what to wear on date when you didn't know where you were going so, then I called you to ask you for help but, then you had to come over rolling in a suitcase filled with God knows what and-"

"Haley! Shut up!" Brooke interrupted her friend's ongoing rambling.

"Sorry."

"Go. Hair. Now." Brooke demanded and gave Haley a light push towards the bathroom.

Haley paced the small space of the bathroom as she impatiently waited for her straightening iron to heat up. To say she was nervous about tonight was a huge understatement. She didn't know why she was so nervous about going out with Nathan tonight. They had been alone together plenty of other times before and she was never really nervous. Maybe it was the fact that this was actually being labeled as a date. Or it could possibly be because Nathan was the first guy she liked in a really long time.

Of course, there was her lousy 'relationship' with Damien, but that didn't really count anymore because after half the time they were together it wasn't the same feeling anymore. She had just been too afraid to admit it. Admitting that things were different with Damien would create change. And Haley James had been too afraid for everything to change all at once.

Haley really wanted tonight to go well, but it would calm her nerves down so much if she knew what she was actually going to be doing tonight. Her mind was so boggled with different scenarios that could end up being where her and Nathan were going for their date. Gosh, she hadn't been on a real date in forever.

After they got together, her and Damien never really went on dates anymore. She had wasted too much time with him and for nothing at all. She knew now that she was actually never really in love with him. Not true love at least, and that was what she was looking for.

She kept asking herself if she was ready to do this again. Was she really ready to put herself back out there and date people? Things with Damien had ended almost three weeks ago and Nathan was a good guy. Plus, Nathan had been her friend before, or kind of just a friendly stalker because they didn't actually ever plan on seeing each other, it sort of just unexpectedly happened. It was weird how things worked out like that sometimes.

The straightening iron finally beeped three times letting Haley know that is was now hot enough for her to use. Piece by piece she began gliding it down her naturally honey blonde waves.

Meanwhile, as Haley was in the bathroom transforming her hair, Brooke was getting down to business. She was on a mission to find out where Nathan was taking Haley. Without that information there was no way that she could prepare the perfect outfit for her friend. She needed some information on this date, she just wasn't so sure that she could get Nathan to tell her what she wanted to know in fear of her blabbing it to Haley.

Brooke always had been gossipy and kind of a bad secret keeper when it came to those kinds of things, but she would never tell important secrets that her friends had shared with her. She only blabbed about things like who was dating who, when it happened, who liked who, and so on. You know, all the high school gossip key points. She was the queen bee after all.

"What do you want Brooke?" Nathan asked through the phone without a greeting. He was in the middle of making sure that everything he planned for his date with Haley was going to go according to plan.

Brooke scoffed. "Now Nathan, is that any way to talk to your oldest bestest friend ever?" She asked him sweetly.

Nathan rolled his eyes even though Brooke couldn't see him. "Brooke, you never call me for no reason, so what is that you need?" He asked wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible so he could get back to his planning.

She sighed. "Okay, so maybe I need an itsy bitsy small favor..." She trailed off.

"And what does this favor involve?" He suspiciously asked her.

"Ineedtoknowwhereyour'retakingHaleyonyourdatetonight." She blurted out really fast because she already knew that he wasn't just going to tell her as easily as she wished he would.

"I have no idea what you just said to me. Is this going to be a long conversation?"

"That depends on you."

"How?" Now his interest was sparked. How was he going to be the one who determined the length of this phone call when she was the one who had called him.

"I need to know where you're taking Haley on your date tonight." She repeated.

"No. No way. I'm not telling you." He declined.

"Nathan! Come on. Just tell me. I have to know. It's important." Brooke whined.

"Why?"

"Because I need some information on what your date is going to be like so that I can pick out the perfect outfit for her to wear. So, come on, please give me some details." She explained.

"Brooke, no. If I tell you then your only going to hang up the phone and tell Haley and I want it to be a surprise. Did you ever think that Haley could dress herself?"

"Um, no, not really. Plus, Nathan, it isn't like I forced her to let me help her get ready. She asked me for my help." Brooke justified.

"Brooke, giving some help and bringing a suitcase of clothes over are two completely different things!" Haley called out as she emerged from the bathroom with her waves now gone.

Brooke glared at her. "Shush, I'm on the phone." She whisper-yelled at Haley. "So details?" She asked Nathan.

"No, Brooke. I have to go. Leave Haley alone, please." He said before hanging up the phone.

Brooke rolled her eyes and scoffed. She was so close to getting the information that she wanted until Haley had to come and ruin things. And even if that wasn't the case, she could always just pretend it was. "Haley!" She said as she snapped her phone shut and threw it on Peyton's bed next to her suitcase.

Haley looked over at her innocently, because as fas as she knew she hadn't done anything wrong, and shrugged her shoulders. "What?" She asked, completely clueless.

"I was in the middle of trying to find out where Nathan was taking you tonight." She pouted. She really wanted to know. She couldn't help it, it was in her nature.

"So that's who you were talking to about me?" Haley asked.

"Yes. I was so close. He was going to cave. I know it." Haley gave her a doubtful look. "Okay, so I don't really know that for sure, but it could be true." Brooke caved.

"Alright, so I guess it's time to see what's in this suitcase of yours." Haley said reluctantly as she took a seat on her bed.

Brooke clapped her hands and smiled what Haley could have considered slightly unnerving, or maybe a lot unnerving. She closed her eyes as Brooke started to unzip the suitcase. This was going to be interesting.

"Nathan?" Lucas called out as he entered the dorm room that he shared with his brother.

As soon as he opened the door he knew something was going on. The room looked like the closet threw up. The room was covered with Nathan's clothes everywhere. He scratched his head. Why was his brother's clothes all over the place?

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. Especially, after not getting a response from his brother. "Nate, you here?" He called out again and shut the door.

A few minutes later Nathan emerged from the bathroom. "Huh?"

"What the hell is going on here?" Lucas asked, motioning to the clothes strewn about with his hands.

Nathan eyed the room, obviously he hadn't realized that he had made such a mess. "Oh, sorry man." He apologized.

"How did this happen?" Lucas asked. He was so confused.

"My date with Haley is tonight." Nathan explained or so he thought.

"Uh, yeah I know. You told me, but what does that have to do with our dorm being a mess?" He asked not understanding.

"I don't know what to wear. What's going on, Luke? I never not know what to wear. Why the hell am I so nervous about everything being right?" He questioned as he walked around the room looking through the shirts to see what one he wanted to wear.

Lucas smiled at his younger brother. He had never seen Nathan like this before. "Because you actually like Haley." He explained. It was as simple as that.

Nathan paused his actions to turn and face Lucas. "What?"

"You really like Haley. You don't just like her or think she's pretty, you really really like her. Think about it Nate, you have never acted like this before over one little date. Actually, now that I think about it, you hardly ever took girls out on dates, you usually only hooked up with them at parties." Lucas told him.

"I guess. Which one?" He asked, changing the subject and holding up two shirts.

"Uh, that one." Lucas said pointing to the one in Nathan's left hand.

Nathan then threw the shirt in his left hand to one of the piles on his bed and slipped the one in his right hand over his head as Lucas gave him the weirdest look before plopping down on what was left of his bed.

Haley sat on her bed with her arms folded across her chest. She was so flustered at the moment. Brooke was driving her crazy. Everything was either something that she wouldn't or didn't want to wear, or it was too dressy, or too slutty. After thirty minutes, the two girls had agreed on going for more of a nice kind of casual look, but that didn't seem to be working so far. She huffed and rolled her eyes. She knew that this wasn't a good idea. Now Brooke was getting mad at Haley because she didn't want to wear any of the outfits that she had brought over and Haley was get mad at Brooke because she was trying to force her to wear things that she didn't want to.

Brooke threw her arms up in the arm. "I give up! You're hopeless." She exclaimed.

Haley got up and walked over to her closet where her own clothes were. Brooke hadn't even let her look at her own clothes the whole time. She felt Brooke come up behind her as she looked through the clothing items.

Suddenly Brooke gasped. "Oh my gosh! Haley!" She said pushing Haley out of the way.

"What now?" Haley asked in annoyance. She was almost down to her last nerve. Apparently not only could she not do anything right today, but she also didn't know anything about how to dress according to Brooke. Haley would admit that not all of her clothes were supposedly trendy and fashionable, but she happened to think that she owned a lot of cute clothes and she liked them.

"Why did you not show me this earlier?" Brooke demanded as she pulled the item of clothing out of the closet and held it up for Haley to see.

She shrugged. "I guess I forgot I had it. I've never worn it before." Haley reasoned.

"Well this is perfect. It'll look great on you. You have to wear this."

Haley bit her lip as she took the clothing from Brooke. She had never worn it before and honestly she wasn't sure if she ever would have. She wasn't sure what possessed her to buy it while she was in the store one day, but for some reason she did. It wasn't that she didn't like it because she did, it was beautiful, but it was just out of her price range. For some reason that didn't stop her from purchasing it the day she bought it.

It was almost seven o'clock, the time when Nathan was supposed to come pick her up. Not that he had to go very far considering they lived in the same dorm building. Brooke had left about ten minutes ago and now Haley was sitting down waiting for Nathan to knock on the door. She wasn't sure if she was more excited or nervous.

Finally there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to reveal Nathan standing there with his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. He smiled a charming smile at her which made a small blush appear on her cheeks.

"Hey." He greeted her.

Haley smiled at him. "Hi." She responded.

"You look great." He told her as he took in the sight of her. She had straightened her blonde waves and pinned her bangs back so that they were out of her face. Her make up was light and minimal as usual, but it suited her. She didn't need a lot of make up to look pretty, she was just naturally beautiful and most of the time she didn't even realize it. She was wearing a pale yellow dress. It had a v-neck that showed the perfect amount of skin and ended a little bit above her knees. Even in her heels that gave her almost two extra inches, there was still a noticeable height difference between her Nathan, but it didn't seem to bother either of them.

The blush on her cheeks got a shade darker as he complimented her. "Thank you." She said and smiled shyly at him. "You don't look too bad either, Nathan Scott." Haley told him. He was wearing a simple outfit consisting of a pair of dark colored jeans and a light blue polo shirt but, it looked good on him and he knew it.

He gave her a cocky smirk before saying, "I'm glad you think so, Haley James. You see my brother, Lucas wanted me to wear the black shirt."

"Well, I like the blue. It brings out your eyes." She said to him.

"Good. So, are you ready to go?" He asked her.

She simply nodded her head in return, grabbed her purse and locked the door to her dorm. She had no clue where Peyton was.

Haley linked her arm with Nathan's as they walked down the hall, out of the building and towards Nathan's car.


	10. The Date

**Here's the second half of the last chapter. Thank you to all of those that reviewed. I always appreciate them so much. I love reading them. I hope you like this one. Please review as always and let me know what you think. More chapters coming soon. (For my other story too.)**

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The two of them had been in Nathan's car on their way to the destination of their date, which she still had yet to find out, for about close to ten minutes now. Haley must have asked Nathan about five more times to tell her where he was taking her, but she could not get any answers out of him. It was hopeless and Haley came to the conclusion that there was absolutely no point in even trying to get him to tell her anymore. It was just so useless. He was really good at not telling secrets, well if this counted as a secret. To her it was because she didn't know where they were going and he did. She pouted a little bit. She had even tried her famous puppy dog face, but it didn't work. There was no use. It seemed as if there was nothing that she could do nor say to get him to tell her. So she had eventually flung her hands up in the air with as she sighed and gave up, pretending to be mad even though she wasn't.

Therefore for the past five minutes she had been staring out the passenger seat window, watching the scenery they passed by. They weren't talking, but there wasn't an awkward silence like she had expected it to be if it ever got quiet. They had just fallen into a nice and comfortable silence.

Little by little her nerves were starting to wear down. She was still pretty nervous except considering she had been near extremely nervous, she was feeling a whole lot better. Every minute that passed she found herself becoming less nervous and more excited. There was something about Nathan that made all of her nervousness just wash away. She couldn't figure out what it was, but it was definitely something that she liked.

So far, Nathan had been perfect. Of course he looked great. As always. It seemed as if there was never a time when he could ever not look great. Damn him and him looking good all of the time. He had picked her up on time, not late. That was always good. Plus, he got some extra points for opening the car door for her. Not to mention, when he held the door for her when they were leaving the dorm building. Such a gentleman.

Everything was going good so far and they haven't even gotten to the actual date yet. This definitely helped her reassure herself that she was ready to go back on real dates again. And who better than to start with then Nathan?

Finally, the car began slowing down and eventually came to a complete stop. Haley turned in her seat, away from the window, to look at Nathan. He looked over at her and sent her a charming smile before getting out the car. He walked around the front of his car and opened the passenger side door for her.

"Ready?" Nathan asked her as he shut the car door after she got out.

Haley nodded her head with a small smile on her face and followed him down a path. "Where are we exactly?" She asked him with curiosity.

He just smirked at her before saying, "You'll see in a minute." as he pulled her along the path.

A few minutes later they came to a stop. In front of them was a small field of grass, which pretty much seemed as if it was in the middle of nowhere. There was a blue fleece blanket that was spread across the grass with a basket sitting in the middle.

Nathan pulled Haley over to the blanket and sat down with her. He reached into the basket and pulled out a large, clear, plastic container. Her smile got really big. "You brought us macaroni and cheese?" She asked, barely being able to contain her excitement.

He looked up at her and nodded. "Well, yeah. You said it was your favorite, right?" He asked, all of a sudden getting nervous that maybe she actually never said that macaroni and cheese was her favorite.

Haley let out a laugh. "Yeah. It's food of the gods." She reminded him, remembering the time that they had gotten lunch together one day and he questioned her about ordering it. She couldn't keep the smile off her face. Plus, she was really surprised that Nathan had remembered that mac and cheese was her favorite food. He always seemed to surprise her one way or another.

Nathan let out a barely audible sigh of relief as he grabbed two bowls and forks from the picnic basket and passed one of each over to Haley. Each of them scooped some macaroni and cheese into their bowls and began eating.

"Does it taste okay?" He asked. He wasn't that much of a cook, but he didn't think it would be that hard to make macaroni and cheese. Although it wasn't that complicated to make he wanted to be sure that it tasted alright.

Haley nodded her head. "Yes, it's very good mac and cheese. Thank you." She said to him, a big smile still firmly planted on her face.

Nathan smirked at her. "Only the best for you." He said and shot her a wink.

Haley's cheeks turned a tint of pink as he winked at her. There was something about Nathan that gave her all of these feelings that she had never experienced before, even when he was only looking at her. Or even when smirked at her that smirk that could made any girl weak in the knees. He gave her shivers up and down her spine, but it was a good kind. Definitely a good kind.

The two of them continued with eating their meal and constantly chatting about everything and anything. Conversation was flowing freely, and as usual and there wasn't a time so far where they had to think of something to talk about. That was something that had made Haley really nervous earlier. Yes, they had been together before and never had a problem with conversation, but then again none of those times before had been a date. There wasn't really any kind of pressure for things to go right and be perfect. They were just hanging out, but she soon realized that even when they were silent it was comfortable silences and there was no pressure to come up something to say right away to break any awkwardness. She was so thankful for that. She hated when the conversation didn't flow naturally and it felt like it was forced.

After they had cleaned up everything from the macaroni and cheese, Nathan had taken out some ice cream for desert. Then as it started getting colder outside, Nathan noticed that Haley was starting to get goosebumps along her arms. "Cold?" He asked.

"A little." She said. She was actually pretty cold because of the dress she was wearing, but she didn't want a make big deal out of it. Mostly because she wasn't ready to leave this spot yet.

"I think I have a sweatshirt in my car. I'll be right back." He said as he stood up and walked down the path that led from the grassy field to where the car was parked. A few minutes later Nathan was back carrying a black zip-up sweatshirt that had Celtics written in bold green letters across it. He handed his sweatshirt to Haley as he sat back down on the blanket.

"Thanks." Haley said and smiled at him. She put the sweatshirt on and zipped it up as she inhaled his scent off of the sweatshirt. The smell was intoxicating and she felt as if she could never get enough of it. The sweatshirt was so huge on her and came down to about the middle of her thighs. It was only a little bit shorter than her dress and she probably looked ridiculous, but right now she didn't care.

Nathan nodded to her before laying down and staring straight up into the sky, looking at all of the stars shining brightly in the sky. Haley looked over at Nathan laid down next to him, snuggling in his sweatshirt. The both of them just stayed there for a few minutes laying in the silence.

Haley turned her head to look at Nathan, he was still looking at the sky. "So thanks. This was amazing." She said in a soft voice.

Nathan turned to face her. "I'm just happy you agreed to come."

She smiled. "Me too. I was actually really nervous about coming. I wasn't sure if I was ready to go on dates again."

"Well, I'm flattered that you chose me to go out with first." He said with a playful smirk.

She laughed. "If I remember correctly, you were the one that kept coming after me, Scott." She reminded him.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, but I knew you wanted me. It was obvious. I mean why wouldn't you want all of this?" He joked.

Haley laughed harder. "Shut up." She managed to get out between laughs and playfully smack his chest.

Nathan rolled over onto his side, facing her. She was so beautiful. In fact, she always was, but it was as if she didn't even know how pretty she really was. It was like she was almost completely oblivious to it. Haley turned her head and noticed that Nathan had flipped over to his side, leaning on his elbow, propping his head up with his hand, staring at her face. She suddenly got self-conscious. Why was her looking at her like that? Did she have something on her face?

"What?" Haley asked him as she mimicked his position and flipped over to be on her side to face Nathan.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"So, you were just staring at me 'just cause'? Seriously, why? Do I have something on my face or something?" She asked bringing a hand up to touch her face.

Nathan smiled. He grabbed her hand off her face and put if down. "There's nothing on your face." He assured her. "I promise." He added when he saw the look of doubt on her face. There was silence for a few minutes before Nathan spoke again. "You're just beautiful. You know, I really want to kiss you right now, but I remember what you told me at the laundromat about not kissing on first dates." He confessed.

"You've already kissed me, well kind of, so I don't think that rule applies anymore." She answered.

Nathan leaned his head forward. As his face was centimeters away from hers, her eyes fluttered shut as she anticipated his kiss. She felt humongous moth-sized butterflies floating around in her stomach and Nathan's touch sent electric jolts through her body. She didn't know what he was doing to her. She had never felt any of this before, at least not this extreme. He then dipped his head down to captured his lips with his own and she responded a few seconds later. His hand reached up to caress her cheek as she moved her hand to hold onto Nathan's broad shoulder. Soon his tongue was tracing her bottom lip, asking for entrance to her mouth. She complied and parted her lips for him. Their tongues battled for dominance for a few minutes. When air became an issue they pulled away from each simultaneously. Nathan rested his forehead against Haley's as their breathing started to even out once again and return to normal.

"Wow." Haley whispered almost barely audible. That was hands down the best kiss she had ever had. No question about it.

Even though Haley said it so quietly, Nathan still heard her and his trademark smirk appeared on his face. But he couldn't disagree with her. This one kiss was amazing. It gave him sparks that he had never felt before, especially from just one kiss. What was this girl doing to him? He couldn't get her out of his mind ever since she bumped into him and now she was only going to be in his mind more permanently with kisses like that.

They laid for a few more minutes just looking into each others eyes, brown staring into blue, before a cell phone started ringing obnoxiously loud. Haley closed her eyes and started laughing as Nathan let out a frustrated sigh. He reached in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cell phone. He let out a low growl as he read the name on the caller id. It was his brother. He pressed ignore. Lucas knew he was on his date with Haley.

"Sorry." He said as he looked up at Haley who was now sitting on her knees with her feet under her.

She laughed. "It's okay. What time is it anyway?" She asked.

Nathan looked down at his cell phone. "Uh, ten thirty. You ready to go?"

Haley reluctantly nodded her head. She didn't want to go yet. She didn't want the night to be over, but she had to go home eventually. They couldn't' stay out here all night.

Haley helped Nathan put everything into the basket and fold the blanket up to into the basket as well. Nathan carried the basket in one hand and held Haley's hand in his other as they walked down the path to his car.

After getting into the car, they started their journey home, which was the same building for both of them.

Haley stared out the passenger seat window for the first couple minutes of the ride. She couldn't believe how great this was. It was one of the best dates she had been on. Probably in her whole life. It was prefect. She couldn't keep the smile off her face, not that she minded it being there because of the reasons it was there in the first place. Nathan was great. She couldn't believe that the night was over. She wished it wasn't, that it didn't have to be over ever. But like the saying goes, 'all good things come to an end.' Unfortunately, for this date, that statement was proved to be true.

Nathan glanced at Haley before returning his gaze back on the road quickly, but slow enough for him to see the infectious smile on her face. He was glad she was smiling. And even more glad that he was the one that had cause it. He had wanted everything to be perfect and it definitely was. Especially that kiss. He smirked to himself remembering it. That was probably the best part, not that he didn't like the rest of date because he most definitely did.

He still couldn't believe how different Haley made him feel compared to every other girl he had ever met or been with. All these different feelings were running through him constantly. Different, but good different.

"So, I hope you had a good time tonight." Nathan said, breaking the silence and pulling Haley out of her thoughts, which were coincidentally of him.

Haley shifted in her seat and turned to face him. She nodded her head vigorously. "I did. I loved it. It was great. Thank you." She responded truthfully.

"Good. I'm glad." He answered. "Do you think that it was great enough to go out with me again?" He eagerly asked her. He really wanted to go out with Haley again. Actually he wanted things to be more than just casual dating between them, probably for the first time in his life, but he wanted to take things slow with her for her sake. He didn't want to force her into rushing into another relationship right after that jerk she had been dating cheated on her. Every time he thought about that guy cheating on Haley, anger ignited inside of him. Nathan didn't understand how anyone could ever or even want to cheat on Haley. She was perfect. That guy must have been some idiot not realize it, but his loss was now hopefully going to become Nathan's gain.

"Hmm." She sighed contently. "It was definitely good enough to go out with you again." She agreed.

"Good because I don't what I would do if you said no. My ego would be bruised."

Haley laughed. "A bruise on your ego might do you some good." She joked.

Nathan glanced at her again. "But isn't my ego one of the thing you love most about me." He said matter-of-factly with a smirk on his face.

"Of course." Haley said playing along and she playfully rolled her eyes.

Eventually, they had pulled up to the dorm building and Nathan pulled into his assigned parking spot. He got out of the car and walked around the front of it to open the passenger side door for Haley. She linked her arm with his as they walked from the car to the doors of the building.

When they reached Haley's door, she reached up to place a kiss on his cheek, but he moved his head just in time to catch her lips with his. She instantly responded although she hadn't really been excepting it, hoping for it maybe.

She pulled away before his tongue could ask for entrance. Haley smiled at him before saying, "Thanks again for tonight. Bye, Nathan." and unlocking the door to her dorm room.


	11. What's a Naley?

**I want to thank everyone that review the last chapter. I feel like I'm not getting as many as I did in the beginning of the story so I hope people are still reading it. Here's the next chapter. Please review!**

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There had been a drastic drop in the temperature over the past couple of days and it was all of a sudden a lot colder than it had been about a week ago. Winter was on its way to North Carolina. That was for sure. The days were getting shorter as the nights were getting longer each day that passed. The air was getting brisker and windier everyday and the the leaves from the trees all had fallen off their branches creating clutter on the ground.

Most of the students at Duke University were all bundled up warmly as they traveled across the campus for their different classes. If they were walking to their classes that is.

As for Haley James, she was class free today. Good thing too because supposedly it was the coldest day so far and Haley hated the cold. She hated how her fingers and toes got frozen and numb. And how her ears and nose got really cold, which ended up making the tip of her nose turn a little red. The only thing that she loved about the winter was the holidays of course and the snow. Snow was one of her favorite things. Mostly when it was the middle of the night or really early morning and the was snow everywhere, untouched, unplowed, and not yet shoveled. When it was just as is. A fresh layer of white covering everything, everywhere. It was always so pretty when it first came down. The only thing was that she never got that much snow when she was growing up on the west coast of California. From her experience of being in North Carolina last winter, she knew that it wasn't often that they got snow here either. Except a year after she had graduated high school, her parents had sold the house in California and traveled in their RV for a couple of months. Just recently they had found a house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and had decided to settle back down and buy it. As she far as she knew Pennsylvania got lots of snow so maybe when she want to go see them over break she would get to see some snow for once in awhile.

Even though she was in her dorm and not outside and the heat in the building was working, she was bundled up in some sweats. Okay, well the sweatpants were hers. As for the sweatshirt, it was the black and green one she had borrowed from Nathan on their first date about four days ago. At first she hadn't even realized that she hadn't given it back to him before she said goodbye to him that night, but then after she did notice that she still did have it she just never had it with her when she saw him. Not to mention that it was so warm, probably because it was so big on her, and it smelled just like him. She loved that smell. She had been wearing it constantly while she was in her dorm, mostly when she was sleeping.

At the university, it was only a couple of weeks before exams were going to be distributed. Some of the students were cutting down with the partying and starting to crack open their books as others kept procrastinating and were choosing to wait until the night before their exam was supposed to be given.

Haley was one of the students who started early. She always had been. She probably didn't even need to study if she really didn't want to. She was already really smart, but she figured it was because she always studied most of the time. When she was in high school, she had been first in her class, the valedictorian, and she had tutored many of her peers as she spent a lot of her time in the school's tutoring center. She just loved helping people understand things that they couldn't figure out on their own. She loved watching them finally get it and feeling great about themselves because they finally understood what they were learning. It was an amazing feeling.

After talking to Nathan, she soon found that he was one of those students didn't even open their books until the night before and she had demanded that he came over to her dorm and study with her. So now she was waiting for him to come over so that they could start their study session.

As if on cue there was two knocks at the door. "Come in." Haley called out from her spot on her bed.

The door swung open and in came Nathan with a backpack hanging off of one of his shoulders. After he shut the door he walked over to the bed and tossed his bag onto the ground. He flopped down onto Haley's bed and shut his bed as he groaned out loud.

"What's wrong with you?" She questioned.

"Practice." Was his one word answer. Coach K had made them practice hard and early this morning. It was probably the hardest the practice of the season so far. Only because they were undefeated so far and they were looking to win the championships this year just like they had done the year before.

Haley stifled a laugh. "It couldn't have been that bad." She said.

Nathan opened one of his eyes to look at her. Before Haley knew it, Nathan was tickling her. "Take it back." He ordered her.

"Nathan! Please...stop!" She managed to get out between laughs and breaths as she tried to squirm out of Nathan's grasp.

"Take it back, Hales." He repeated as kept tickling her.

"Okay, okay...it was bad...real...really bad...now stop." She gave up.

Nathan stopped tickling her and held himself above her by putting all his weight on his forearms. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Her breathing finally returned back to normal and she shook her head no.

Nathan pushed some of her wavy locks of hair behind her ear as he leaned his face closer to hers. Haley closed her eyes anticipating his next move. She waited for the kiss, but then she heard his voice whispering in her ear. "I was wondering what happened to that sweatshirt." He smirked.

Haley felt her cheeks turn a slight shade of red as she kept her eyes closed a little longer. She had been waiting for him to kiss her. Again. It seemed as if she had found herself almost craving his kisses. The amazing ones that gave her butterflies in her stomach and jolts of electricity throughout her body. Although, she would take any kiss that Nathan was willing to give her. She also found herself rethinking why she told Nathan that they had to go slow. She wanted to smack herself in the head for saying that. She was wanting to be with Nathan all of the time. Even if she wasn't kissing him. He made her so happy all of the time and he made her smile and laugh. Plus, he was so sweet and don't forget completely good looking.

She opened her eyes and found Nathan in his original position next to her, laying on his back on her bed. "Sorry." She said sheepishly. "So, are you ready to study now?" She asked.

Nathan crinkled his face up in disgust as he turned on his side to face her. "Do we have to study?" He whined. Nathan hated studying. It was always so boring.

Haley giggled at the look on Nathan's face. "Nathan, we have to study. It's really not that bad. Come on, I'll help you. And you're gonna ace your exams. Now, grab your books and sit up."

He groaned as he sat up from his comfortable position on Haley's bed and then reached down to grab his backpack. He looked around the dorm for the first time since he had gotten there. "Where's Peyton?" He wondered. He had only been to Haley and Peyton's dorm a total amount of three times. This one being the third. This was actually the longest he had ever stayed, the other two times was only for a a few minutes. And now he just realized that he had never seen Peyton in her dorm. He wasn't really close with Peyton, he had only talked to her a couple of times when she was with the rest of the group, but he just thought it was weird that she was never at the dorm.

Haley was reaching down to grab her own stack of books from the bottom of her bed when she heard Nathan ask her about where her roommate and friend was. She felt a little knot in her stomach and she knew it could only mean one thing. Jealousy. She would never admit it, but she was jealous that he was asking about Peyton. "Oh, uh, she has classes and then I think her and Brooke have plans." She answered as she returned to spot on her bed only this time with her school books. "Okay, so what class do you want to study for first?" She asked trying to diverge the attention off of Peyton and to hopefully make this new feeling of envy in her disappear.

"Ugh, who really cares." Nathan said expressing his dislike for studying. "So we're gonna be alone for awhile?" He asked.

"Nathan, how did you study before if you didn't open your books?" She asked incredulously. "And yes, for awhile, but what does that have to do with us studying?" She asked again. Of course, the topic of conversation was back on her roommate's whereabouts.

There was the knot in her stomach growing bigger at every mentioned thought of Nathan and Peyton. She should have known that he had to like Peyton. She was so gorgeous with her perfect blonde curls and hazel colored eyes and the thinness of her body figure. How could any guy not like her? Of course, it just happened to be the same guy she liked. Thoughts raced through Haley's mind and she realized that she was finally admitting to herself that she liked Nathan. Really liked Nathan. Oh man, was she in deep.

"I just didn't study at all really." He said answering her first question. "As for being alone having to do with us studying, it doesn't, but it does have to do with this." He said and then leaned over to capture Haley's lips with his own.

She was actually in shock. She hadn't been expecting him to kiss her. It took her a few seconds to fully comprehend what was happening before she completely responded to Nathan's kisses. But whether she had been expecting it or not, it was something that she had longed for, craved, since their date earlier that week. Oh, how she loved his kisses.

But one thought continued to plague her mind. Why was he kissing her when he had just been asking about her curly haired friend? Was he really just trying to figure out if she wasn't going to be here so he could kiss me? Yes.

Haley felt Nathan's tongue begging for entrance to her mouth and she slowly came back to her senses. She lightly pushed him away and broke the kiss. "Nathan! We're supposed to be studying." She exclaimed flustered.

He couldn't help but smirk at her. She was sexy when she looked flustered like that. He had noticed that. Sometimes he felt himself trying to provoke her into getting flustered on purpose. He laughed at the look on her face. "Come on, Hales. You know, I was just studying." He said and smirked at her.

She loved and hated that smirk all in one. She loved it because it made her weak in the knees and could make her do anything. She hated it because it made her weak in the knees and could make her do anything. Stupid smirk. Haley tried to be stern. "Nathan, you cannot attack my lips because you don't feel like studying." She told him rationally.

"Please Hales." He whined. He loved kissing Haley. He hated studying. It was as simple as that. No exceptions.

He didn't know what it was about this girl that made him feel all these things that he had never felt before with anyone else. All he knew was that she was really special. She treated him like Nathan and just Nathan, never Nathan Scott the basketball god. She didn't like him because he was good at basketball or because everyone else worshiped him and the ground he walked on. She saw him as a real person. She didn't treat him like an idiot just because he didn't get as good of grades as she did. Like that would ever happen, Haley was a straight A student. Nothing less. He would never be able to accomplish that. That was another thing, she believed in him. And he knew that she wasn't just saying that to be nice or because she felt like she was obligated to, she said it because she really meant it from the bottom of her heart. She was so beautiful and she made him smile all the time. Her scent was intoxicating. She was like an addiction and he couldn't get enough of her. This never happened to him before. He never got this attached to one single girl before, but ever since he met her everything changed.

Nathan pretended to pout. "Come on, Haley. You know it's a lot more fun than reading these stupid books about things that already happed." He tried to persuade as he pointed to his history textbook.

Haley took in his adorable pout and could already feel herself giving in. He just looked so cute like that. She giggled a bit and then took her lower lip in between her teeth as she contemplated her options. Kiss Nathan or study. Like was such a hard choice. Yeah right. There really wasn't even a choice. She pushed a few loose strands of honey blonde hair behind her ear. "We are studying right after." She said pointing a finger at him, trying to be stern although she knew that she was failing at it miserably. She just couldn't resist it anymore. She wanted—needed more of those kisses.

Nathan's pout turned to a full smirk as he pushed both of their books further down the bed.

He cupped Haley's face with his large hands and then covered her mouth with his own. He dropped one of his hands down to her waist and the other went through her long honey colored locks of hair as her arms wrapped around his middle and gripped the back of his sweatshirt once his tongue had slipped into her mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance until air became an issue. They barely apart seeing as how their faces were still almost touching. He rested his forehead against hers for a minute as they caught their breath.

"Be my girlfriend." Nathan said to her more than asked.

Haley sat there in shock. Did he really what she thought he just said? This wasn't really happening. She couldn't even find her voice. "What?" She choked out. So much for going slow.

"I know—I know you said slow, but I can't help it anymore. I want to be with you all of the time Haley. So, I'll ask you again...Haley James, will you be my girlfriend?" He told her, but this time actually asking instead of stating.

She bit her bottom lip again. Her big brown eyes looked into his beautiful blue ones and all she was honesty and hopefulness. There was hidden agenda behind his question. He really wanted to be with her. He didn't like Peyton. At least not like her, like her. He liked her. He just wanted to know if Peyton was going to walk in on them. She smiled at him and nodded her head vigorously.

Before she knew it, Nathan had swooped his head back down and once again captured her lips in a earth-shattering kiss. This was the kind of kiss she had read about in all those cheesy romance novels. It was the kind everyone had heard of, but not many had actually ever experienced. The kind that had fireworks. Her head was spinning. Forget those other kisses. This was definitely the best one ever.

The door swung open and Nathan and Haley jumped apart from each other. There in the doorway stood Peyton and Brooke.

"Tutor-girl!" Brooke exclaimed as she swung the door behind her. Ever since Brooke had found out that Haley had tutored when she was in high school, Brooke had started called her Tutor-girl. It was now her new nickname that apparently was going to stick with her forever. But Haley didn't really care, she knew that nicknames were Brooke's way of showing that she loved you.

Haley looked like a deer caught in headlights. She could feel her cheeks getting redder by every second that passed by. She ran a hand through her somewhat messed up hair, from Nathan's hand being all tangled up in it. To add on to that, she knew that her lips were redder and slightly swollen. "What?" She asked, acting as if nothing happened.

"You know what. You declined the offer to go shopping with us because you were having a hot make-out session with Mr. Hotshot over there." Brooke pointed out, with her hands sitting on her hips. She then turned to Peyton who was trying her hardest not to laugh."Goldilocks, this is not funny!" She exclaimed before turning back to Haley once again. "Hoes over bros, Tutor-girl!" She huffed even though she wasn't really mad and then flopped onto Peyton's bed.

Haley hid her flustered face in Nathan's chest and Nathan wrapped his arms around her petite frame.

"Oh my God!' Brooke screamed, bouncing up and down on the bed.

Haley's head quickly popped up from it's hiding spot. "What?"

"You two are totally together." She said clapping her hands together.

"Brooke, how do you know?" Nathan asked her suspiciously. The only way she could've known was if she was in the room and she wasn't. Unless she had been listening from outside the door. He wouldn't exclude her from spying on him, or anyone at that.

"It's totally obvious. Just look at that body language." She stated matter-of-factly. "Yay! So, Naley, when did this happen."

"What's a naley?" All three other occupants of the room questioned simultaneously.

Brooke through her hands up. "Do I have to explain everything around here? It's not 'a Naley'. Just Naley. And it's Nathan and Haley put together because they're together. Which you two look so cute by the way. So, you guys are Naley. Congrats." She explained.

Peyton held in her laughter and Nathan looked at Brooke like she was crazy.

"So, what are you and Lucas?" Haley asked.

"Brucas, duh."

Haley hid her face once again, but this time to keep from getting yelled at by Brooke because she was laughing.

"Go ahead and laugh, Tutor-girl." Brooke said.

"Brooke what are you doing here?" Nathan asked. He wanted to be alone with his new girlfriend, not with his new girlfriend, and their two friends.

"Me and P. Sawyer here, are going to watch some movies. You guys want in?"

Nathan inwardly groaned. That was just great. "Do you know where my brother is?" He questioned.

"Library." She said as she looked through some movies and picked out the ones that she wanted to watch.

That was all he needed to hear. Nathan grabbed Haley's hand pulled her off the bed with him and started pulling her to the door.

Haley laughed. "Nathan, where are we going?"

He just smirked at her and kept pulling her through the door. "To finish studying." He said simply now knowing that no one was there to bother them and they could be alone.


	12. Deserve to be Happy

**Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Thanks to those who reiewed. Please review this chapter.**

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Nathan dribbled the round orange ball up and down as it echoed on the hard wooden floor of the empty gym. He loved the sound of the basketball bounces echoing through the gym. He passed by imaginary defenders before proceeding to effortlessly shoot the round orange ball into the net.

It was a Sunday and the team never had any Sunday practices. He figured that while Haley was doing some studying at the library that he could come spend some time in gym practicing on his own for a little while until she was done. He loved it when he got to just play in here by himself. It was so peaceful. It cleared his mind. And if he was angry he could take out all his frustrations through basketball. Basketball was like his own form of therapy.

He jogged back over to the bleachers where his bottle half full of Gatorade was sitting and he gulped some down. He then felt a pair of small hands reach up from behind him to cover his eyes. He smiled as he heard her soft giggle.

"Guess who." She whispered into his ear as she stood on the tips of her toes to reach him.

"Well, I hope that it's my beautiful girlfriend." He said as he removed her hands from his eyes and turned around to face her.

She shook her head as she looked around the gym. "No, I don't think I see her anywhere in here." She said with a cheeky smile.

"No?" He asked as he raised one of his eyebrows.

She shook her head again. "No." She confirmed. "I'll help you find her though. What does she look like?"

"Hm, a lot like you actually. Gorgeous. Beautiful brown eyes. Long, pretty, honey colored hair. Perfect smile." He described.

Haley wrapped her arms around his neck and leaped up off her feet as Nathan wrapped his arms around her to hold onto her so she wouldn't fall.

"I shouldn't be kissing you. My girlfriend might get jealous." He smirked.

Haley lightly smacked his arm as she slid back onto the floor. "That's enough. So how much longer do you want to stay here and play by yourself?"

He grabbed his basketball and pulled her out onto the court. "Nathan, what are you doing?" She asked cautiously.

"I'm gonna teach you how to play." He told her as if it was a no-brainer.

Haley shook her head vigorously. "Oh no. Nathan, I cannot play basketball. I suck at sports. Don't make me. It's not pretty."

"Come on. You can't be that bad." He said brining her over to the foul line. "Shoot." He ordered.

She huffed. "Do not laugh." She said sternly as she pointed a finger at him.

He raised his hands. "I promise."

Haley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She sucked at sports and she was extremely clumsy. Now she was about to make a fool of herself in front of her incredibly good looking and amazingly talented athlete of a boyfriend. Just great, she thought to herself. Haley reluctantly threw the ball through the air and missed the net terribly. She looked over to where Nathan was practically doubled over laughing. "Hey! You promised you wouldn't laugh!" She pouted.

"Hales, when you said you were bad I didn't think that this bad was even possible." He said trying to control his laughter. "I'm sorry. I am." He apologized as he jogged over to retrieve the ball.

Nathan walked over to her and handed her the ball. "Again?" She complained. "Nathan, no."

"I'll help you." He said and Haley rolled her eyes, but nodded her head. "Square you shoulders to the basket. Hold the ball out like this." He said moving her hands to the correct spot. "Bend your knees." He said as he walked behind her. He placed his hands on her hips. "Relax your hips." He told her before whispering into the ear, "Just shoot."

Haley shot the ball through the air and watched as it soared into the basket. Haley's eyes opened wide and she jumped up and down before turning to face Nathan. "Oh my God! Did you see? It went in! Can you believe it?" She exclaimed with a big smile on her face.

Nathan smirked at her. "Told you that you could do it. That was actually kind of sexy." He told her.

Haley raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Most definitely." He responded before pulling her into him and kissing her as his hands went to rest on her hips while hers wrapped around his neck.

"Maybe I should join the NBA. I'll have the best free shots ever." She joked as they broke apart from one another.

Nathan let out a laugh as he shook his head. "Free throws, Hales. And I think that you would have to be in the WNBA. If you would even make it without me that is." He said as he led her out of the school and towards their dorm building.

"Oh, you're so funny, Scott." She said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. He was so warm compared to the brisk weather that surrounded them.

"Are you coming to my room?" He asked her as he gave her a sideways glance. He loved how perfectly she seemed to fit with him. They fit together so perfectly. Almost like they were two puzzle pieces that were made specifically for each other.

"Um, sure." She answered. Although they hadn't been together for a long period of time yet, she couldn't be happier. When Haley had first heard some of the rumors about Nathan that people had told her and Peyton, she had been afraid that he was a lot like her ex-boyfriend, Damien. Of course, as time passed she knew that there was no comparison between the two. Nathan was so much better.

What she had before was just a pathetic excuse as for a relationship. They hadn't really been happy. Not truly happy. It was a false happiness and she didn't even know. She suspected that she must have known somewhere deep down inside herself, but she figured that she had always just pushed the feeling aside because she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that it was failing, but she had most likely known all along. They weren't truly in love. They had something else, but it wasn't what Haley was looking for. She was looking for something so much more.

Now with Nathan, things were so different. Things were amazing between the two of them. Nathan, himself, was amazing. There was no false happiness or fake smiles. It was all real and that was the way that it should be. Every time she was with him she felt larger than life itself. He gave her these incredible feelings. And just seeing him put a smile of her face. She knew that she couldn't be any happier than she was when she was with Nathan.

Nathan noticed that Haley was being rather quiet than her usual chatter-box self. He looked down at, still tucked warmly into his side, and saw that she looked as if she was absorbed in some kind of deep thoughts. "What are you thinking about?" He asked her, breaking her out of her trace-like state.

Haley looked at their surroundings and noticed they were at the dorms. She tilted her head upwards to look at him. "You." She confessed.

He smirked at her. "Really? About how you want my amazingly hot body?"

She laughed and playfully rolled her eyes as they headed into Nathan's dorm. "No. Just how happy I am with you." She admitted, not being able to keep the big smile off of her face. Even if she wanted to, no matter how hard she tried, there was no way that she could keep that smile off her face with him.

He kissed the top of her head as the walked into the room where they found Lucas laying on his bed reading an old book that he probably read ten times before. Nathan didn't understand why anyone would want to read the same thing more than one time, for some things why they would read it all. He always wondered what was so great about reading it again if you already knew what was going to happen. Or if they had already made it into a movie.

Lucas looked up from the book he was reading as Haley lay down on Nathan's bed with Nathan in tow. "Hey guys. What's up?" He asked.

"Haley's daydreaming about my sexy body" Nathan smirked as he wrapped his arms around her waist once he had lay down behind her on his bed.

"Dude, I don't need to know that." Lucas said with a disgusted look etched onto his face.

Haley elbowed Nathan. "That is not true! Stop lying."

"Ow." He pouted and then buried his head in the crook of her neck, taking in her intoxicating scent.

"Stop being such a baby." She said.

"You're mean."

"Am not."

Lucas just laughed at his brother and his brother's girlfriend, who also happened to be his friend. He was glad to see Nathan like this. His brother never really did the whole girlfriend thing. He just had flings or one night stands. But even Lucas could tell that this thing with Haley was so much more than that. He knew that Nathan really liked this girl and as far as he could tell Haley liked his brother too. It was a good thing too. They both seemed really happy. And Nathan deserved to be happy.

"You both kinda sound like a married couple that's been together forever." Lucas said.

"We do not." They both said at the same time, which only cause Lucas to burst out in more laughter.

"Dude, get out of here. Go visit you 'wife'." Nathan said using air quotes.

Lucas got off the bed. "I can sense I'm not really wanted here anymore."

"You're never wanted here." Nathan joked.

"Be nice." Haley ordered him.

"I'll see you guys later." Lucas said as he opened the door to leave.

"Bye Luke." Haley called out as he left and then turned in her boyfriend's arms to face him. "Hi." She said softly as she noticed their face were so close together.

"Hey" He replied back. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her and to have her all to himself. He liked her big, beautiful, brown eyes and her pretty smile that could light up an entire room and her laugh was entrancing. He liked playing with her long locks of hair and he liked breathing in her one-of-a-kind scent. But then there was the non-physical stuff about her that he liked as well which was basically her whole personality. The way she gave everyone a fair chance no matter what. How she didn't care what other people thought. She was determined and extremely smart. Everything about her was amazing and he couldn't get enough of her.

"Let's watch TV." She suggested out of nowhere, hopping out of Nathan's arms and over to the desk where she had eyed the remote.

"What? You mean you only came over to watch TV?" He asked her. "That's all were gonna do?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why? What else did you have in mind?" She made the mistake of asking.

He smirked at her as she got back onto the bed. "I could think of a couple of things." He said huskily as he started kissing the side of her neck and wrapped his arms around her once again.

Haley giggled as she turned the TV on and began flipping through the different channels. She shifted a bit and brought Nathan's mouth up to her lips. She kissed him hard and slipped her tongue into his mouth. Nathan was a little shocked that Haley was being as bold as she was being right now. Usually he was the one who pushed things further and deepened their make-out sessions. But he guessed that she was just becoming not as shy with him. As he responded he, the steamy kiss was over as fast as it began, which had left him a little disappointed to say the least.

Haley smiled at him before resting her head on his chest and turning to watch the TV. Before long, Nathan had gained control of the remote and turned the channel onto some 'very important', in Nathan's words, basketball game. But somehow she had found herself not caring as long as she was with him it didn't matter what they were watching. Even if it was watching a bunch of guys put a ball through a hoop.

"So, you and Nathan seem happy." Peyton said to Haley later that day as they sat Indian style on Peyton's bed, pigging out on a bowl of popcorn.

Haley tossed a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth as she nodded her head and smiled big. "Yeah. We are." She confirmed.

Being Haley's roommate, Peyton was starting to notice that Haley always got a really big smile on her face when she or anyone else was speaking of Nathan. At first Peyton had been a little skeptical about Nathan because of the rumors she had been told about him, but she soon came to the conclusion that Nathan was actually a really great guy. Especially for Haley. They seemed great together so far. Peyton was glad that Haley wasn't brooding over her break up with her crappy ex-boyfriend from a couple of months ago and that she had actually moved on.

"You really like him, huh?" Peyton asked.

Haley nodded her head. "Yeah, I do. He's great."

"Well, good for you. You deserve it." Peyton said honestly. In the short amount of time that she had gotten to know Haley they had already formed a great friendship and Peyton knew that Haley deserved to be happy. And if Nathan made her happy then that was great.

"So, what about your friend we stayed with in New York? Jake? Wasn't he coming down here?" Haley questioned as she picked at some more of the buttery snack that sat in front of them.

"Yeah. He's actually moving officially after the holidays are over. But he'll be home on break for the holidays like the rest of us, so I'll see him then. And we talk on the phone lots and e-mail."

"You like him as more than a friend though." Haley stated instead of asked.

Peyton's eyes widened. "What? I– well I...how did you know?" She stuttered. She had never told Haley that.

Haley laughed. "Peyton when we were in New York I saw the way that you looked at him. It was actually kind of obvious."

Peyton covered her face with her hands. "Oh God." She mumbled into her hands before she removed them.

"Don't worry. I think you guys would be so cute together. Plus, I think he likes you too." She said. "Let's just say that you weren't the only one who was sending glances when you thought no one else was looking." She added once she saw the look of question all over Peyton's face.

Peyton looked at Haley in shock. Could what she was hearing actually be true? Was there actually a real possibility that Jake maybe liked her too? After all these years? She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had been in love with Jake for a long time, but she just never got up enough courage to say something to him. Now she was beginning to think if maybe she should have said something.

She then shook her head frantically. There was no way that Jake felt the same way about her that she felt about him. She would have known. Right? "No. That's not...he can't...it's just not possible." Peyton stuttered.

"Why not?" Haley challenged. She could tell that Jake was in love with Peyton. And there was no doubt that Peyton was in love with Jake. Now all they had to do was just admit to one another. They didn't know how much they were missing out on by not confessing their feelings to each other. They didn't realize how lucky they were to find that. That was Haley's wish. She always dreamed that she would fall in love and get her happily ever after.

"I don't really know."

Haley smiled at her friend. "Peyton, I see how much you really love Jake. And that cute little girl, Jenny. She's absolutely adorable. Peyton, you are so great with her. She really loves you too. You and Jake are like perfect for each other. You just need to tell him how you feel. If you don't then you're really gonna miss out." Haley advised.

Peyton thought about what Haley said to her as she picked up the empty bowl that used to be filled with popcorn and carried it over to place it on the table. "So, when did you get so wise?" She asked.

Haley shrugged. "Um, I don't know." She said, laughing.

"Thanks Haley. I'll consider what you said."

"Good. You're really lucky to find someone you love as much as I know you love him. Don't let it go to waste." Haley said as she got off Peyton's bed to get in her own bed to get a good night sleep.

"Yeah." Peyton said as she flipped the lights off.

Lucas walked back into his dorm room that he shared with his brother. He walked into find his brother laying on his bed watching basketball highlights on EPSN's Sports Center. Alone. "Haley left?" He asked. He was actually a little surprised. He had expected her to be here when he got back seeing as it seemed as if those two were spending all their time together constantly since they had gotten together.

Nathan looked up from the television. "Yeah. She left a couple of hours ago." He answered glancing at the clock and noticing it was almost eleven. Haley had said that she needed to go back to her dorm to study for her upcoming exams at eight o'clock. According to Haley, Nathan had 'kept her hostage' and wouldn't let her leave until an hour and a half later. It wasn't his fault really. He had just distracted her a little bit with a long make-out session and then wouldn't release her from his arms.

"Wow. I'm surprised." Lucas replied flopping down onto his own bed.

"Why is that?" Nathan asked, still watching the TV.

"You've been with her basically twenty-four/seven."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders. "I like spending time with her."

Lucas looked over at his brother. "You really like her, don't you?"

"How did you know?"

"You never acted like this with anyone else before. You guys are happy?"

Nathan nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Good. You deserve it Nate." Lucas told his younger sibling. "She's a keeper, Nathan." Lucas mimicked his mother's voice.

Nathan threw a pillow at him. "Shut up." He said turning the TV and then the lights off.


	13. Changing Plans

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Two weeks had passed by and winter had already made its way. Exams had been completed the week before and the beginning of this week and now the university was on its winter break for the holiday season. Christmas was in a week and Haley had plans to go to her parents new house in Pittsburgh. She was supposed to fly out there in two days, but now her plans were changed.

Her parents had to go to some important crisis that her sister Taylor had caused out in Phoenix, Arizona. They told her about it over the phone this morning, but she hadn't really been listening. Taylor was the rebel, wild child of the family. She was like a rotten egg. Taylor was the sister that was closest to Haley's age. Even as kids they had never been close. After Taylor had graduated high school, she had attended a community college near their hometown before dropping out not even halfway through her freshman year. Since then she had been running around all over the place doing whatever the hell she felt like, whenever the hell she felt like it. The James family only ever heard from her when she needed something or if she was in a lot of trouble. And apparently now was one of those times. Therefore, Christmas at the James' house was being post-poned.

Who ever heard of post-poning Christmas. Of course, her parents would do that for Taylor. They refused to believe that she was a bad child. They always just claimed it to be free-spirited or whatever it was that they called it. She just rolled her eyes and usually ignored everything that her sister did. She had heard too many times before. It was the same old routine now.

Haley was the baby of the family. All of her older brothers and sister already had families of their own or close to it. So Christmas being post-poned wasn't as big of a deal to any of them as it was to her. They all were just going to go to their in-laws houses. What was she supposed to do now? Sit here at the dorms while everyone else went home for their break? Like that was going to happen. She wasn't staying here by herself. She figured that maybe she would just go to Pittsburgh anyway and just stay at the new house by herself. At least it was better then staying here. She would just have to make sure to tell her parents to leave her a key somewhere. Maybe under a plant or something.

She was currently sitting Indian style on her bed eating Hershey kisses. They were her favorite thing to eat when she was upset about something. Of course, with Christmas being close by all the foils were red, silver, and green.

Nathan walked into the dorm a few minutes later to see his girlfriend pouting as she stuffed Hershey kisses in her mouth. He laughed at her a little bit. She always looked so adorable when she pouted with her bottom lip sticking out. "Hey Baby, what's wrong?" He asked her as he came over to sit next to her on her bed.

Haley sighed. "I just got off the phone with my parents an hour ago. Guess what they told me?"

"What did they tell you?" He asked.

"They're 'post-poning' Christmas! Whatever the hell that means. Can you believe it? All because my stupid sister got into some kind of trouble in Arizona and apparently she needs their help really bad. I should be packing to go to Pennsylvania in two days, but instead we're not having Christmas until later and I'm stuck at this school while everyone else goes home. I think I'm just going to go to the house and stay there by myself." She rambled on about her new arrangement.

Nathan pulled her into his arms to give her a hug. "I'm sorry, Baby." He tried to console her. He knew how much being with her family for the holidays meant to her. She loved it when all of her family was all together because she never got to see all of her siblings at once that much since she had so many. Nathan thought having just Lucas as a brother was enough.

"It's not your fault." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"Haley you can't go to your parent's house and stay there alone." Nathan told her.

She looked up at him. "Well what else am I supposed to do? I'm not staying here all break or until my parents decide to come home. And no one ever really knows with them." She said.

Nathan suddenly got a great idea. "Hey, come to Tree Hill with me." He suggested.

"What?" She asked not really believing what she heard.

"Come to Tree Hill with me." He repeated.

"Nathan, I can't intrude on your family's Christmas." She reasoned.

"Hales, your my girlfriend, you won't be intruding. I promise. Please. I want you to come. My mom would love you." Nathan said trying to persuade her even though he knew that his mother really would love Haley. How could anyone not though? Well, maybe his father, but he didn't like anyone.

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly. Haley didn't want to bother their family at Christmas if she wasn't really welcome there. She would just feel awkward if no one except Nathan wanted her to be there.

"I'm positive. Ask Lucas." He said reassuring her. He really wanted her to come home with him.

They had been together for almost over a month now and he was completely happy with her. He had never been with anyone else for this long before. This was all really new to him, but he couldn't be happier. He loved being with her all of the time. And now was as good as time as any for her to come meet his family and see his hometown, which was about five hours away from here. He wanted to show her everything.

Haley bit her lower lip. "I don't know, Nate. Are you sure this is a good idea? I don't want to ruin your family's plans."

"Will you come if I call my mom and tell her you're going to be joining us? Will that make you feel better?" He asked. He would do anything to get her there.

She nodded her head and watched as he dialed a number into his cell phone before holding it up to his ear. He talked to his someone who seemed to agitate him for a few moments before talking to his mother. Five minutes later he had hung up the phone with a smile on his face. "You're coming to Tree Hill with me." He stated.

Haley smiled at him. She was so lucky to have him. He was such an amazing boyfriend. "Thank you. I didn't want to spend Christmas alone." She said thanking him.

She gave him a soft kiss on the lips, but as she went to pull away Nathan pulled her back to him and kissed her again. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and allowed it roamed the territory that had become so familiar to him this last month. She usually tasted of strawberry lip gloss, the same kind she had dropped in the grocery store, but today he could taste the chocolate that she had been eating earlier before he had come over. She laid down on her back as Nathan laid on top of her, holding all of his weight on his forearms to keep him from crushing her. Soon one of his hands was tangling itself in her long waves of hair as the other roamed up the side of her shirt, his thumb rubbing circles on the smooth skin of her stomach. She moaned into his mouth which caused him to groan in return.

"Okay, ew." Peyton joked, covering her eyes as she entered her dorm that she shared with Haley. This was the second time she had interrupted them. Oops.

Haley's cheeks turned a bright, scarlet red and she giggled as Nathan let out a frustrated sigh and fell on his back next to her. "Why are we always getting interrupted?" He complained.

"Sorry." Peyton said meekly. She felt bad for walking in on them in the middle of their steamy make-out sessions, but hey, she didn't know when they were going at it in her dorm room. It wasn't like she wanted to watch anymore than they wanted her there. "I'm actually only going to be here for like five minutes so..." She trailed off.

"Peyton, it's fine. He's just a grouch." Haley said. She was actually secretly relieved that Peyton had barged in on them when she did. Things were about to go a lot farther, she knew it. And she also knew that it was going to happen fast. The truth was that she wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet. It wasn't that she didn't want Nathan because that wasn't the problem. She just wanted to make sure that she deeply and honestly in love and that that person loved her back when she finally did take that next step.

"So what day are we leaving?" Haley asked turning to Nathan.

"Where are you guys going?" Peyton asked.

"Oh well you know about my parents, right?"

"Yeah."

"Nathan called his mom and invited me to Christmas with them in Tree Hill." She said with a smile.

"That was nice of you Nate." Peyton said. "I'm heading back out. See you guys later."

"Yeah. It's no big deal." He said trying to play if off, but he knew how much it really meant to Haley which was most of the reason why he did it in the first place. He had to admit that the other reason was because he was selfish. He didn't want her to go to Pittsburgh until after the new year. He couldn't wait that long to see her again. Sure they would be able to talk on the phone, but it wasn't the same as seeing her beautiful face every day.

"Bye." She said to Peyton before turning to her boyfriend. "Nathan it is too a big deal. To me it is." Haley said and he just smiled and winked at her in return. "So when are we leaving?"

"Uh, whenever. In like two or three days?" He guessed.

"Okay, that sounds pretty good. I guess I have to pack, huh?" She asked.

"Yeah. Me too." He said.

She was really happy that Nathan had invited her to go home with him to Tree Hill. She had been a little hesitant about going at first because she didn't want to intrude on his family during the holidays, but her had convinced her to come and had even called to ask his mother for her. It was so sweet of him to make sure that she wasn't going to be alone over the winter break. She was excited to go to his hometown with him. She wanted to meet his family and his friends from back home. She wanted him to show her all of the things that he loves about his town. She wanted to see where it was that Nathan came from.

It was a good thing he had invited her because she didn't know what she would have done until after the new year at her parent's new house all by herself or until whenever her parents got back. Plus, she didn't know if she would have been able to not see him every day. And she didn't want to want to have to find out what she would do without him. Especially after all of the time they had been spending together.

She didn't know what was going on with her, but she was getting all these new feelings and sensations all the time. He gave her butterflies in her stomach. The good kind. And he made her shiver from just a simple touch. His kisses were amazing and after receiving them she didn't think that she could live without them. He always brought a big smile to her face, even when she was just thinking about him. She loved being with him and when she wasn't she wanted to be. She was falling for Nathan Scott. Falling hard and falling fast at that.

She looked over at Nathan and wondered why he had been being so quiet. Haley smiled to herself as she saw Nathan's eyes closed. His chest rose and fell evenly with the breaths he was taking in his sleep. She didn't know when he had fallen asleep. She must have been too consumed with her own thoughts to notice. He rolled onto his stomach and subconsciously wrapped his arm protectively around her waist pulling her closer to his side. She smiled at the thought that he didn't even know what he was doing as sleep soon took over her as well.

Nathan shifted as his eyes fluttered open. He looked over to see his girlfriend tucked under one of his arms, her head buried in the crook of his neck and her long waves of hair spread out across her pillow. He placed a kiss on the top of her head before scrunching his face in confusion trying to figure out when she had fallen asleep. Or when he had fallen asleep for that matter. He looked over at the clock and saw that it was three in the afternoon meaning that he had been sleeping for at least two hours.

He turned on his side and leaned his head against his hand watching her sleep. She was always so beautiful. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Although he wished her eyes were open. He loved her big, chocolate colored eyes. His eyes traveled down her face and came to her lips. They were so full and plump and all wanted to do was kiss her right then and there, forever.

Nathan felt Haley shift a bit under his arm. Haley opened her eyes and saw Nathan staring down at her. "Hey you." He said to her.

She smiled at him. "Hi. What are you looking at?" She inquired.

"Just watching you sleep." He said simply, smiling at her.

"Why? For how long?" She asked curiously.

"For about ten minutes. Because you're gorgeous." He said, winking at her.

Haley could feel her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink like they always did when he said those kinds of things to her. "Stop it." She said shyly.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"You're embarrassing me. Don't watch me sleep anymore." She ordered as she buried her face into his shirt.

"Okay." He easily agreed even though he knew that he wasn't actually going to listen to request. He already knew that he would watch her sleep every time he was awake and she wasn't.

His cell phone started vibrating and he pulled out of the pocket of his jeans to see that he had a text message from his brother. "Lucas and Brooke are heading home now." He informed Haley as he read the message. "We'll just meet them there then in two days."

Haley nodded her head in agreement. "Sounds like a plan to me. I just have to pack."

"So do I. I'm a horrible packer too. Want to pack for me?" He asked hopefully. He hated doing it. He usually just threw a bunch of stuff into a bag and called it done.

Haley laughed. "No thanks. Pack for yourself. You're so lazy."

"Fine." He grumbled. "I have to go. Basketball practice soon." He said.

"Okay. Bye." She gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"That wasn't a very good good-bye kiss." He pouted.

She reached up and kissed him soundly. "Better?" She asked.

"A little. We'll work on it."

She laughed. "Alright. Bye Baby."

"I'll call you later, Gorgeous." He said as he walked to the door and let himself out.

Haley smiled to herself as she fell back on her pillows. She liked him so much. She knew she was falling for him fast. She just hoped that he was feeling the same way as she was.

She figured that she should probably call her parents to let them know that she was going to be in Tree Hill with Nathan and his family over the winter break from the university. She would do that later. Maybe while she was packing her suitcase. Whenever she got around to doing that. Maybe it would be tomorrow. She mentally scolded herself for procrastinating, but she just didn't feel like packing right now. Instead she grabbed her newest issue of People magazine and started flipping through the pages.

Three days later and Nathan and Haley were driving five hours from Duke University to Tree Hill to stay in Nathan's childhood house for Christmas over the winter break.

"Hales, let's go." Nathan called out. They planned on leaving for Tree Hill twenty minutes ago, but that didn't work out. Haley had to keep going back into the dorm 'one last time' before they left because she either knew she forgot something or wanted to check to make sure that she didn't forget anything.

"Okay. I'm ready." Haley said walking out of the dorm and locking the door behind her. Peyton had left the day before to go home to Charlotte to visit her dad over the break.

"Are you sure this time?" He asked, teasing her a bit.

"Yes. Come on. I can't wait to meet everyone and see everything. I'm so excited." She rambled on as she hopped into the passenger seat of the car.

Nathan rolled his eyes as he got into the car. It was pretty obvious that Haley didn't know how small and boring Tree Hill was. If he thought about, he figured that she would actually probably like Tree Hill. She grew up in a small town in California.

As they started driving off the campus of Duke University, Haley idly flipped through the radio stations as she stared out the front window and watched everything they passed by. She smiled satisfied once she found a radio station that was playing something she like. Her smile faded as she heard the music suddenly stop. She looked over and saw that Nathan had turned the radio station off.

"Nathan, why did you turn off the radio?" She asked curiously.

"We are not listening to that chick music the whole ride there." He grumbled.

"Chick music?" She repeated incredulously.

"Yeah." He said as he pushed a CD into the CD player and rap blared through the speakers.

It was Haley's turn to turn the stereo off. "I don't want to listen to that." She complained.

Nathan stopped at the red light and looked over at the pout had on her face. "Don't pout, Hales."

"I don't pout." She said pouting even more than she was before.

"Yeah, you do." He smirked as he leaned across his seat to kiss her pouty lips before the traffic light turned green again.


	14. The Scotts

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Nathan glanced over at the passenger seat where Haley was. She had been sleeping for the past hour now, leaving him alone with all of his own thoughts. He could've listened to the radio, but he didn't want to wake her up. He watched as he drove by an old, wooden sign that says 'Welcome to Tree Hill. Home of the Ravens.' He thought back to when he was a Raven and played basketball at that Tree Hill High School, but that was over and now he was a Duke Blue Devil. Playing at Duke had always been his dream.

"Hey Sleepyhead." He acknowledged as he saw Haley waking up out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey. How long have I been sleeping?" She asked as she looked out the window. They passed by a high school which she recognized as the name of the school where Brooke had told her that she, Lucas, and Nathan had all attended before Duke.

"About an hour. We'll be there in about five minutes." He answered.

She nodded her head and turned back to look out the passenger seat window. They drove by some houses, small and averaged sized ones, but nothing too spectacular. Then there was a park and then some kind of boating dock. There was a string of stores and Haley remembered Nathan telling her that their mother owned a café somewhere within the town. They turned down another couple roads and came into an area with larger sized houses. Haley looked at them in awe. These houses were ridiculously huge. The were like castles. Nothing like what she had back in the small town she had grown up in, in California.

Her mouth dropped open in shock as they pulled up into the driveways of one of the gigantic sized houses. It was a huge, brick house and it was absolutely gorgeous. She wondered if the inside was as beautiful as the outside was.

"Nathan, this is your house?" She asked him in complete awe.

"Home sweet home." He answered sarcastically. He usually left it up to her to be sarcastic because it was all part of her personality, but he couldn't resist. She had given him the perfect opportunity. And always would when it came down to his home life or his father, 'daddy dearest.'

Nathan sighed with a little bit of relief as he saw Lucas' car parked in the driveway. He hated being alone in that house with his parents. Well, his dad at least. His mother wasn't really a problem, but his dad was a nightmare. Maybe, just maybe, his father would behave since Haley was going to be staying with them. God, he hoped so. He didn't want Haley to see what he was like when his dad started with him. But he doubted that would happen.

"Nathan, you're house is beautiful." She breathed. She was still in shock at the beauty of the house that Nathan and Lucas had grown up in. She knew they had money, but this...this house was enormously gigantic.

"Yeah, I guess." He sighed as he grabbed their suitcases from the trunk of the car. "Ready?" He asked, although he wished that he didn't have to go in, but he knew that he had to. Especially now that he had invited Haley. There was no turning back. This was it.

She nodded her head and thanked Nathan for carrying her suitcase as they walked up to the door. He stopped at the door. "Look, Haley, sometimes, no almost all of the time, my house is pretty intense. My dad is kind of a bully and we argue a lot. Just giving you a heads up." He said solemnly. She nodded at him signaling that she understood as he opened the door and allowed her to walk in ahead of him.

"Nathan is that you?" He heard his mother's voice calling out, probably from the kitchen. She was a great cook, hence why she had her own café.

"Yeah, it's me." He responded and grabbed Haley's smaller hand in his larger one and led her towards the kitchen. "Hey Mom." Nathan greeted as he entered and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Nathan!" The older woman exclaimed. She had dark, curly hair and by her appearance she looked like such a nice woman. "I missed you." She said as she pulled her youngest son into a hug. She let go of Nathan and looked over his shoulder to see Haley. "You must be Haley." She said knowingly as she pulled the younger girl into a hug.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Scott. You're house is beautiful." Haley said as they pulled away from each other.

"Thank you, but please, call me Karen. You know you're the first girl Nathan had ever brought over to the house. All the others never came over here." She informed.

"Mom." Nathan warned. The last thing he wanted to do was have Haley asking questions about his past. They had only talked about it briefly, but never got into it too much and this was something that he definitely did not want to discuss in front of his mother. Besides, she obviously didn't know about any of the girls that he had brought over and hooked-up with while his parents weren't home, but he usually had kept it strictly at parties.

"How come?" Haley turned to ask him giving him the smile he loved so much.

"None of the others were important." He smirked at her.

"My son, always the charmer." Karen said.

"Okay, so I'm going to bring Haley's bags up to one of the guest rooms." Nathan announced.

"Oh, Nathan, that's not actually going to be possible. Your Uncle Keith is going to stay in one of the guest's rooms once he gets here and we have to save the other for your grandparent's. I guess Haley will just have to stay in your room. I had to put Brooke in Lucas' room."

"What happened to Brooke's house?" He asked.

"Nathan, she is not staying in that house by herself. Go take both of your bags upstairs and show Haley around." She ordered.

"Come on, Hales." Nathan said walking back to grab the suitcases and carrying them up the stairs and down the hallway to his room.

He couldn't believe that his mother was allowing his and his brother's girlfriends stay in their bedrooms while they were here. Although, Karen had always had a soft spot for Brooke. She thought that Brooke was perfect for Lucas and had always treated the girl if she were her own daughter. Especially, since Brooke's parents had never been home.

Haley followed Nathan up the staircase and into one of the bedrooms at far end of the hallway. She looked around and saw a bunch of basketball posters covering the dark blue painted walls. He had a huge bed in the center of the room with a big brown comforter on top of it. A flat screen TV was mounted on the wall across from the bed and there was a stereo system sitting on top of a desk that looked like it used to have a computer on it, maybe the laptop he had brought to college. She looked at the basketball net hanging on another one of the walls and smiled.

Nathan placed their suitcases down in front of the closet door and walked over to flop down onto his bed. He opened his arms out wide. "Come here." He said as she walked over and laid down close to him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"This is a comfy bed." She noticed.

"Because of me." He smirked.

She smiled at him. "I don't think it's that. I think it's just a really comfortable bed."

"Oh yeah?" He asked. "Test it without me." He said getting up.

She acted as if she was trying out the bed before saying, "You know, I think you might be right. Maybe it is because of you." She joked. She wished they could lay there all day, but she knew they couldn't. Besides that would lead into dangerous territory that she didn't know if she was ready for yet. "Actually we should probably be going back downstairs now." She said before Nathan had the time to anything back as she got off the bed.

"I guess." He said even though all he really wanted to do was stay in his room with her. He didn't want to go back downstairs, mostly in fear of running into his father, which was unfortunately bound to happen sooner or later. He hoped it was later rather than sooner. "Let's go."

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nathan could hear his father's voice traveling through the lower level of the house. He rolled his eyes and sighed. Great, exactly what he didn't want.

"Nathan, come in here." He called out from where he was sitting on the couch conversing with his oldest son and Brooke.

Haley followed Nathan into a new room that she hadn't seen yet. She smiled at Lucas and Brooke who were sitting on one of the couches across from who she assumed to be Nathan and Lucas' father, a man with dark hair and icy blue eyes that she recognized both the younger boys had inherited, a smirk on his face which she had seen many times on Nathan's face before, and a glass of some kind of liquor in one of his hands.

"Who's your friend, Son?" The man asked as her looked her up and down as if she were a piece of meat, smirking at her.

Haley got a look of disgust on her face as she noticed him obviously checking her out. Ew, he was such a disgusting man. This was her boyfriend's father and was looking her up and down.

Nathan rolled his eyes as he noticed his father checking out his girlfriend. He was such an ass. "Dad, this is my girlfriend, Haley James. Haley, my Dad." He said in a monotone voice as if he was a robot.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Scott." She lied. She already didn't like him and she wasn't the kind of person to decide that quickly whether or not she liked a person, she usually waited to get to know the person first, but this man had already made a bad impression on her.

"Ah, Miss James, Nathan, have a seat." Dan said, motioning to the other couch with his free hand. "I was just discussing the annual dinner party we will be attending on Christmas Eve with Lucas. I suppose Miss Davis and Miss James will be joining the both of you?" He asked.

Lucas looked over at his brother and by the look on his face he knew that Nathan had forgotten about the annual dinner party they always attended on Christmas Eve. "Yes, Dad, they will be." He said, answering for himself and his brother.

"Great. Dinner's in half an hour. Your mother wanted me to tell you." He said as he looked specifically at Nathan.

Family dinners always caused an outburst between Dan and Nathan. Dan would 'innocently' provoke Nathan and Nathan's temper got the best of him all the time. Nathan had always made sure that he didn't sit next to Dan, but it didn't matter, it didn't help. Dan liked to see Nathan get all worked up about something and cause him to get angry. For some reason, that was unknown to him, Dan got some kind of enjoyment out of seeing Nathan react to him in anger. It frustrated Nathan so much. He could never understand why his father treated him the way he did.

"Perfect." Nathan muttered as he stood up and began heading back up the stairs.

Haley dutifully followed him after politely excusing herself from the presence of Brooke, Lucas, and Mr. Scott. She reached the door that she knew led to Nathan's room and lightly knocked on the closed door. "Nathan?" She asked as she opened the door slowly and shut it behind her.

He was sitting on his bed throwing a plush basketball into the air and catching it repeatedly. Haley walked over to sit down on the edge of his bed as she watched him.

"Sorry." He apologized. "I just can't be around him for too long." He explained as she nodded her head understandingly even though she didn't really know what was going on. All she knew was that Nathan's dad did not make a very good first impression. She couldn't believe he seriously checked out his son's girlfriend or even a nineteen year old at that. He disgusted her already.

"I'm warning you now, dinner will be ten times worse. This was nothing except me not wanting to be near my dad anymore." He said vaguely which only confused her even more. She just sent him a smile before they stood up to go back downstairs for dinner.

As they reached the dining room, everyone else was just sitting down in their own seats. Mr. Scott was sitting at the head of the table, which didn't surprise her. Lucas sat to his left and Brooke sat next to Lucas. There were three chairs placed at the other side of the table. Nathan went over and sat in the one that was farthest from his father which left her in between Nathan and Karen.

Karen placed a few more things on the table and then proceeded to take her seat next to her husband and Haley.

"Boys, how is school?" Karen asked as everyone began helping themselves to the meal she had prepared.

"Good mom." Lucas answered.

"Nate?" She asked.

"School's fine, Mom." He responded.

"Good. So, Haley, how did you meet Nathan?" She asked.

Haley looked over. "Um, in a grocery store actually." She said truthfully.

"What?" Brooke asked as her eyebrows furrowed together. She thought they met because Haley was roommates with Peyton and Brooke had invited Peyton to that party who in turn invited Haley to come along as well. When did this grocery store thing happen?

"Oh, uh, I wasn't really paying attention and I bumped into him accidentally." She admitted.

Brooke kept quiet. She was going to find out more about this later. And she was definitely going to find out why no one told her this. She hated not knowing things.

Karen laughed. "That's an interesting story." She said and caught sight of her husband rolling his eyes.

"This is delicious, Mrs. Scott." Haley complimented.

"Thank you, Haley. And what did I tell you, call me Karen."

"How's the team this year?" Dan asked, speaking for the first time.

"Dan, let's not start." Karen warned.

"Karen, please, I'm trying to talk with my sons. Nate?" He ignored the warning tone that was evident in her voice.

Nathan rolled his eyes. His father wasn't trying to talk to him and Lucas like a normal father would be. He was easing his way into belittling and criticizing Nathan's every move on the court. For some reason, Dan hardly picked on Lucas, it was always Nathan who got the worst of it. It was Nathan that Dan was trying to re-live his basketball glory days through and Nathan hated it. He couldn't stand it.

"It's fine, Dad." He grumbled. Haley looked over and saw his jaw clenching and his grip tightening on the fork he was holding.

"How many points are you averaging a game now?" He asked as if he was going to commend his son on doing such a good job.

"26." He answered simply, keeping his eyes focused on the plate of food in front of him, not daring to look at his father.

Dan scoffed. "Only a basket more than in high school. You got to get that up higher, Nate. You can do better than that. You know it and I know it. You pass too much instead of taking the shots." He said in a firm voice.

"I can't shoot when I'm double-teamed." Nathan gritted out.

"Great players make great plays, Nathan. You know that." Dan taunted.

"Like you did? I've made it farther than you ever did, Dad, and you can't stand it. You can't stand the fact that I beat you." Nathan said as he threw his fork down on his plate, abruptly standing from his seat and grabbing Haley's hand. "Come on, Hales." He said pulling up from her chair.

"Thanks for dinner, Mrs. Scott." She said quietly as Nathan pulled her out of the dining room and eventually out the front door. "Where are we going?" Haley asked him as she followed Nathan to his car.

"Don't know." He mumbled honestly. He just couldn't be near his dad anymore. He had had enough. He was so sick and tired of Dan. He had to get out of there.

He really wanted to be alone right now, but he couldn't have left her there even though Brooke was there. Maybe he should have just stayed at Duke. Him and Haley could have stayed there together by themselves. That would have been better. So much better than this.

She sighed and turned to look out the window. She had never seen Nathan act like this before. She was actually kind of shocked. They were talking about basketball one minute and then the next minute she was being dragged out of the house by a pissed off Nathan.

She was still shocked at some of the things that Mr. Scott had said to Nathan. Those comments were certainly uncalled for. Nathan was an amazing basketball player. The way he played so gracefully on the court was mesmerizing. She loved watching him play, especially when he didn't know she was there.

She watched as they drove up to the docks that had passes by earlier that day as they got there. Nathan stopped the car and just sat there for a couple minutes, not talking, not moving, before he finally got the car. Haley followed him over to one of the round, wooden tables. She sat down next to him and watched him place his head in his hands.

Nathan picked his head up and said, "I hate him, Haley. I really do."

"Your dad?" She asked him softly.

He nodded his head. "How terrible is that that I actually hate my dad?" He asked.

She looked into his pretty blue eyes that he had inherited from the man he had just told her he hated. She saw a lost and confused boy.

"Why does he always tear me down? Why is whatever I do for him never good enough? Why does he never do this to Luke?" He asked her, desperate for some answers.

He had always wondered why his father chose him to belittle. Why him? Lucas was the older the twin. Deep down he knew it was because he was more dedicated to basketball than his brother. To Nathan, basketball was a lifestyle. To Lucas, basketball only a hobby. Not that they didn't both have a love for the game, just Nathan's was greater. It was his escape, but in the process, he had to take all of the crap that his father threw his way.

It was carved in stone that if Dan Scott hadn't blown out his knee in college then he would have gone pro. He would have been one of the greats. But he had blown out his knee and his dreams of playing professional basketball went down the drain. Instead he had a pregnant girlfriend, whom he married and owned a car dealership. The only legacy he had left was right here in this small town of North Carolina from when he played basketball at the high school.

Not that it mattered anymore after Nathan had beaten his records. That had made Dan even more bitter and criticize Nathan even more. Dan couldn't stand the fact that Nathan was actually better than he was, so he made Nathan feel terrible about himself. With Lucas it didn't matter because although he was a good player, he wasn't as good as Nathan was. Nathan was a threat to Dan. Dan was jealous of his youngest son, but he would never admit it. His excuse was always, 'I only want the best for you, Son.'

Haley bit her lower lip. She wished that she could give him some answers to his questions, but she couldn't so instead she just pulled him into her embrace, hugging him tightly. "I don't know." She whispered quietly.


	15. Day Before Christmas Eve

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Sorry I didn't get this up faster. Please review!**

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It was the day before Christmas Eve and it was early in the morning. All was quiet in the Scott household. There was still no sign off any snow in the North Carolina area, which disappointed Haley a little. She loved snow.

But she still woke up with a content smile etched on her face. She felt Nathan's chest pressed up against her back. His arms were wrapped around her keeping her close to him and his face was buried in her hair where her shoulder and her neck met. She loved when she woke up like this. Everything was so peaceful and quiet and it was just her and Nathan. Even if he was asleep.

Haley has always been an early riser. Even when she was a kid she had always woken up early. She was never one to waste the day by sleeping in. Although, she had to admit there was a couple of times when she had stayed in bed longer than usual. It was becoming more of a habit now with Nathan. He was so lazy and never liked to get out of bed. He was usually holding her down, keeping her there longer than she originally planned to be.

She giggled as she felt Nathan placing kisses along her shoulder and neck. "What are you doing awake so early?" She asked as she turned around in his arms to face him, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

"That." He replied as they pulled away from each other and then swooping in for another kiss, capturing her lips with his own.

"Mmm. Okay, stop." She said pushing him away from her before things could get too heated. She was still kind of worried about taking the next step with him, actually with anyone. She knew that she wasn't in love with him yet. And that 'yet' is what scared her. She could feel herself quickly falling harder and faster everyday for him. She found herself feeling these things that she had never felt before for anyone else she had ever met. That scared her. She was afraid that she was going to fall too deep and he wouldn't have the same feelings in return. She had been hurt before and she didn't want to be hurt again. She knew that this time it would hurt even worse because her feelings for Nathan were so much stronger than the feelings she had ever had. It was such an incredible feeling, but it scared her all at the same time.

He groaned. "Haley." He whined. He loved kissing her. He wanted to kiss her every second of every day. Sometimes he would get this intense urge to go find her just so that he could kiss her. Things between them were going really good. He had never had this kind of relationship before Haley. In the beginning he was a little surprised at how much he liked just being with one girl, but he was completely happy with her. She made him smile real, genuine smiles and not that many people could actually do that. She was patient with him and she didn't treat him like he's stupid. He knew he was so lucky to have her, but he was too selfish to let her go. He knew that if she saw something in him, he should just be grateful and accept it without asking any questions. She was such an amazing person. He couldn't get enough of her.

"Sorry." She said meekly. She didn't want to admit yet why she had parted from him so quickly. Actually, for the past three days they had been at Nathan's parent's house she had been barely affectionate with him. She wasn't sure if it was because she was in front of all of his family and she had never been a big fan of public display of affection or if it was possibly because she was distancing herself from him because she was afraid of liking him too much, at least more than she already did.

Nathan sighed. She had been pulling away from him a lot lately the past couple of days and he didn't know why she was doing it. He hoped it wasn't because there was something wrong with her. No girl had ever complained when being with him before, so he was pretty confident that he wasn't doing anything wrong. He also hoped that she wasn't losing interest in him because he liked her so much. Much more than he ever thought was possible.

He glanced over her to look at the time on clock. She woke up at ungodly hours of the morning. The bright red numbers on his alarm clock read 6:57. He groaned. He definitely needed more sleep than that. "Let's go back to sleep." He said. He wanted to keep holding her in his arms. He loved the way their bodies seemed to fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.

Haley nodded her head and buried her face into his chest. She usually couldn't go back to sleep once she had woken up, but with Nathan it was so much easier to fall back asleep. She felt her eyes flutter shut as her traced patterns on her lower back where her shirt had risen up and exposed some of her smooth skin. Nathan loved touching her skin if was so soft and smooth against his callous fingers, which was a cause of so much basketball.

A couple of hours later Nathan woke up and noticed Haley wasn't wrapped in his arms anymore. He stretched his arm over across to the other side of the bed, but only felt the sheets that covered his mattress. He frowned as he rolled over and saw that she was nowhere in his room. He crinkled his eyebrows as he got up and walked downstairs.

He smiled as he heard her laugh echoing throughout the downstairs. As he approached the kitchen he could distinctively make out the voice of Haley and his mother. He walked in to seem them gathering ingredients for something. Ever since he was a kid his mom had made incredible food, but he didn't know that Haley could cook.

"Nathan, how did you sleep?" His mother asked him as she noticed him entering the kitchen.

"Good, Mom." He said truthfully. He noticed that he slept better when he had Haley laying next to him. He was going to hate going back to school after New Years when they both went back to their own dorm rooms. But they are co-ed... his thoughts trailed off as he heard his mother talking to him again. "What did you say?" He asked.

"Haley's helping me with breakfast. She used to cook with her mom." Karen repeated.

"I didn't know you could cook." He said surprised.

"You never asked." She replied smiling as she continued helping Karen.

Haley liked Karen a lot. She was such a nice woman. And Haley was saw how caring she was. Haley could tell that she loved both of her sons so much and she cared about them a lot. In some ways, Karen reminded Haley of her own mother and maybe that was one of the reasons that Haley liked her so much after only a few days of knowing her.

"You're grandparent's should be coming some time today." Karen said as she turned to face her youngest son. "And the annual dinner party starts at six tonight, so please be ready on time and look nice." She added knowing that her son had most likely forgotten about it. She knew that he hated dressing up and going to those parties, but Dan refused to let Lucas and Nathan not go. It was part of their 'obligations' of being in the Scott family.

"Like Dad would ever let me forget." He mumbled more to himself than to his mother.

"Haley James." Brooke sing-songed as she bounded down the stairs and entered the kitchen. "We are going shopping today." She announced proudly with a big smile on her face.

Haley raised her eyebrows. "We are?" She asked and Brooke nodded her head eagerly in return. "Why?" She asked skeptically. Going shopping with Brooke was like wanting to die and that was when Peyton was there. Haley could only imagine what it would be like with just her and Brooke and no one there to keep her sane.

"Because I need a new outfit for the dinner party tonight and I'm pretty sure that you didn't bring anything appropriate to wear to this thing. You know I'm right." Brooke explained.

"Well...I..." Haley trailed off not wanting to admit that she actually didn't bring anything to wear because she was afraid to go shopping with Brooke alone.

"Told you. Good, so it's settled then. After breakfast me and you, the mall. Oh, this is going to be so much fun." Brooke said clapping her hands together and bounding out of the kitchen, back up the stairs.

"I'm going to die." Haley muttered to herself as soon as Brooke left the room.

Karen laughed at the horrified look on Haley's face. "Haley, you'll be fine." Karen said trying to reassure her son's girlfriend.

Haley looked over at Nathan and he just shrugged his shoulders. "Save me." she pouted at him.

"Sorry, Hales." He said as he prayed that his girlfriend would come back to the house in one piece, alive, or at all for that matter. He had been only been shopping with Brooke Davis once. It was the first birthday Lucas had after Brooke and Lucas had just started dating and she roped Nathan into going with her to pick out the perfect gift. He thought he was going to die or rip all her hair off her head, whichever came first. Neither had actually happened. After that one time he hadn't been shopping with Brooke Davis again and he promised himself that he never would. So far he had kept his promise to himself. She was a shopping Nazi and he considered it very dangerous to go shopping with her, especially alone.

At breakfast Haley had been introduced to Lucas' and Nathan's Uncle Keith. He was their father's older brother, a tall, scruffy looking man. He had flown into town late the night before or something from somewhere in Georgia. He seemed nice and she could tell that Lucas had a close relationship with his uncle. She couldn't help but notice that throughout breakfast, Dan and Keith didn't seem to get along, but she just ignored it.

After breakfast, Nathan and Lucas decided to go for a run and Brooke demanded that Haley get ready to go shopping. It was going to be a long day. A long day that she was dreading. Hopefully, Brooke would prove her wrong and this shopping experience wouldn't be as bad she she is expecting it to be.

She showered and walked back from the bathroom to Nathan's room to get dressed after making sure that no one was in the hallway. Haley was searching for some clothes to wear out of her suitcase when she heard the door opened. She quickly turned around and her hopes of it only being Brooke flew out the window as she became face to face with Dan Scott. Haley subconsciously pulled the yellow towel tighter around her. "Can I help you with something, Mr. Scott?" She asked folding her arms across her chest once she realized that he was just standing there.

He smirked at her except unlike Nathan's smirk, which she found attractive and sexy, this one just creeped her out. "Miss James, do you know where Nathan is?"

"Uh, he went for a run or something with Lucas." She offered. He just stood there and nodded showing no intention on leaving. "Mr. Scott, if that's all could you please leave so I can get dressed?" She asked as politely as she could. He was creeping her out just standing there smirking. This guy was repulsive. She fought the urge to gag. What kind of man–what kind of father was this?

His smirked only got larger as he nodded his head again and turned to leave the room, closing the door behind him.

Haley sighed in relief as he left the room. She rolled her eyes in disgust as she returned back to finding something to wear. Maybe going to the mall with Brooke was good. It would get her out of this house for the awhile and she would do anything to get away from that man.

"What about this dress?" Brooke asked holding up a red one for Haley to see.

"For you or me?" She asked. So far the shopping trip definitely wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be. She did all that worrying for nothing. She hated to admit it, but she was actually having fun shopping with Brooke. Who knew?

"Me of course. Red definitely goes better with my skin tone than yours." She replied with a 'duh' look on her face.

"Yes, for you." Haley said studying the dress Brooke was holding in her hand. "Try it on."

"No, we have to find you a dress first." Brooke insisted. as she flipped through the racks of dresses.

"So, um, Lucas' and Nathan's dad is um..." Haley trailed off not really knowing how she wanted to phrase this. Brooke had known the Scott family a lot longer than she had, Mr. Scott included.

Brooke snorted. "An ass? A disgusting pervert? An evil man? All of the above?" She offered, completing Haley's sentence in various ways.

Haley nodded her head. "I was actually heading towards the second one with this." She admitted.

"Yeah, I saw him checking you out."Brooke said and saw the disgusted look on Haley's face. "Don't worry, it's not only you. It's happened to me too the first couple of times Luke had brought me over. This was after I got hips and breasts of course." She said trying to make Haley feel better. "Actually I think he does it to everyone. It's really disgusting. I was a lot younger than you are now." She sad.

"Well, yeah that was bad. I couldn't believe that my boyfriend's father was checking me out. But something happened today that bothered me. After my shower, I just went into Nathan's room to get changed and I heard someone come in. I turned around and there he was, smirk on his face as I just stood there completely shocked, in a towel I might add. And he wasn't moving. It was creepy." Haley confessed.

"Ooh, that does sound creepy. Let me tell you, Mr. Scott is not a very, shall we say nice, man. He's a pompous jackass and I don't think he'll ever change." Brooke said.

Haley looked at her and sighed. "Great. Let's just find a dress." She said as she returned to flipping through the clothes racks.

By the time that Haley and Brooke each found a dress and returned back to the Scott house, Dan's parents had arrived. Brooke had warned her that Dan was just like his father except Royal Scott wasn't as perverted as his son was. But she told Haley the his mother, Mae, was really nice. Haley wondered how such mean men could end up with these nice wives. How did that happen? They walked into the house and Haley braced herself for the worst.

"Brooke, Haley, in here girls." Karen called as she waved them over from in the family room where everyone was sitting including Royal and Mae Scott and Keith Scott. "How was shopping?" She asked them as they entered and sat down next to each other on the second half of the large couch Nathan and Lucas were already sitting on.

"Great." Brooke answered for the both of them.

"Royal, Mae, you remember Brooke, Lucas' girlfriend." Karen said as they nodded their heads and exchanged their hellos. "And this is Haley, Nathan's girlfriend." She introduced. "They're both staying here with the boys for the winter break." She informed them.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Scott." Haley said politely.

"Are you distracting that boy away from basketball?" Royal asked in a deep, heavy, southern accent as he motioned to Nathan with his hand and Nathan openly rolled his eyes.

"Um, I..."

"Royal, stop it. She looks like a lovely girl." Mae interrupted. "Ignore him." She said sweetly, turning to Haley.

Haley just simply sat on the couch. The men in this family were so obsessed with that game. She didn't understand what was so important about putting a ball through a hoop. What was the big deal? She was realizing that it was more than just a game to Nathan, it was his life, but what she didn't understand was why his father and grandfather were so concerned. It was Nathan's life. They weren't the ones playing the game. Sure, she knew that family members watched their children and grandchildren play sports, but in her opinion they being kind of overbearing about it. This family seemed to talk about basketball constantly.

Haley was sitting on Nathan's bed as Brooke applied make-up to her face. They had to go to the dinner party in two hours and Brooke had barged into Nathan's room an hour ago, kicking him out and telling him not to come back because she and Haley had to get ready for the party and he wasn't allowed to see them until they were leaving.

"Tutor-girl, close your eyes." Brooke ordered as she continued applying make-up. The door opened as Nathan walked through. "I thought I told you stay out. What are you doing in here?" She demanded.

"Brooke, I need to get my clothes." He said as if was the most obvious thing in the world.

Brooke huffed. "I guess you can't wear that." She said as she took in his basketball shorts and sweatshirt. "Get your stuff and get out! And don't look at Tutor-girl over here! Oh, you're so lucky that she isn't already wearing her dress and it's just make-up." She warned. "Close your eyes, Tutor-girl." Brooke demanded as she went back to doing Haley's make-up.

Nathan nodded his obediently and quickly glanced at his girlfriend, not that she could see him with her eyes closed anyway. He wanted to ask Brooke why she putting all that stuff on Haley's face when Haley was naturally pretty the way she was and didn't need any, but he knew Brooke would get mad and he didn't want to risk getting his head chopped off. He quickly focused back on getting what he needed and getting out of there as soon as possible.

"And get a shower, you stink." Brooke called out as she saw him leaving the room.

"Gee, thanks Brooke. Your too kind." He said although he knew he needed a shower after going for a run that afternoon with Lucas.

"How you put up with that boy is beyond me." Brooke muttered to Haley as Haley laughed in return.

The Annual Christmas Dinner Party was being held a extremely fancy hotel just outside of Tree Hill. The decorations were extravagant. White Christmas lights were hung up all around and there was a humongous Christmas tree with colorful lights wrapped around it with red and silver ball shaped ornaments, sitting in one of the corners of the large room. The room was filled with round tables with seating cards placed at each one. There was a bar set up on one side of the room and a stage on the other.

Haley looked around at all of the people that were there. All the women wore gorgeous, designer dresses and plastered smiles on their faces as they clung to the man they came with, probably their husbands, as they mingled with everyone they knew there and the people they didn't know.

Haley looked down at herself dressed in a just below knee length, gold dress that dropped to the middle of her back and showed the perfect amount of cleavage in the front with matching gold heels that made her at least two inches taller than she originally was. Her honey blonde waves cascaded down her back and Brooke had done her make-up. But somehow she still felt that she didn't belong here.

She felt Nathan give her hand a squeeze and she looked over to him as he gave her a reassuring smile. "You look beautiful." He leaned down to whisper in her ear. She nodded her thanks as they followed his parents and grandparents to the table of eight they were assigned to sit at. Lucas' and Nathan's uncle had decided against coming.

This was so much different than how she would normally spend Christmas Eve. It would be and her parents and whatever siblings and their families that decided not to go to their in-laws house. They all stayed at home and had a family dinner and just spent time with one another. It was relaxing and fun. There was no getting dressed up like this or anything of this sort.

Haley was standing in one of the corners of the room watching everyone around her. Dan had stolen Nathan claiming that there was someone that Nathan needed to be introduced to. She took a sip of her soda and she wondered if maybe she should have gotten an alcoholic drink.

"Nathan, what do you think you're doing?" Dan asked harshly as he pulled his son away from everyone.

"What? What are you talking about? You're the one that brought me over here?"

"No. With Holly." Dan elaborated.

"It's Haley, Dad. I don't know what you're talking about." Nathan said as he turned to walk away until Dan grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Nathan this girl is just a distraction from basketball. From everything that we worked so hard for, Nathan. She is a scheming con artist, Nathan. Don't you realize that even she can tell you're going to make it big in the NBA and she just wants to be by your side when you start raking in the millions of dollars. She's a gold-digging–"

"Stop it." Nathan growled through clenched teeth as he interrupted his father. "You have no fucking clue what you are talking about. She doesn't care about how good I am at basketball. It wouldn't matter to her if I never played another game again. And how dare you say that we've worked hard. I've worked hard. Not the both of us. Just me. By myself. You have absolutely nothing to do with it. No matter how much you keep trying to tell yourself that you do, you don't. Stop trying re-live your basketball days through me, Dad. Stop living in the past. I'm better than you and you know it." Nathan declared before he walked away from his father.

He was pissed that his father had to ruin his night like that. Nathan had been talking with Haley when his dad came over, claiming that there was someone he wanted Nathan to meet. Nathan reluctantly followed his father after Haley insisted that he should go with his dad to meet the person and that she would be fine until he got back. Unfortunately, for Nathan that was not the case.

Nathan stalked over to get a couple of drinks before finding Haley. He was about five seconds away from punching his father in the face. Dan always knew how to ignite Nathan's uncontrollable temper. Dan wanted to be in control of every part of Nathan's life and it drove Nathan insane. Who the hell did Dan think he was to say those things about Haley? He knew nothing about her. And maybe things were actually better that way.

She felt someone come up from behind her and wrap their arms around her. She knew who it was without even turning around and smiled as she relaxed against their chest. "Having fun yet?" Nathan asked her.

She turned to face him. "I thought you were with your dad?" She half asked, half stated.

"I was, but I want to be over here instead." He said honestly.

"Well, I'm glad you came and found me."

"Mmm hmm." He said before fiercely capturing her lips with his own. He backed them up to the wall as he put his hands on either side of her, trapping her there as their tongues battled for dominance.

"Nathan..." She said into his mouth. "We can't do this here." She said as she slightly pushed him away from her.

"You're right. Come on." He said as he grabbed one of her smaller hands in one of his larger ones, pulling her across the room. He pulled her up a set of stairs and then down a hallway before stopping at a room and taking out a key, pushing the door open.

"Nathan?" She questioned as he pulled her into the hotel's room. "What are–"

He cut her off by kissing her as he walked them over to the bed that was in the center of the hotel room. He gently laid them down on the bed and one of his hands went to the back of the dress, searching for the zipper.

Haley's eyes shot wide open as she pushed his hand away. "Nathan, stop." She said as he continued to devour her mouth.

"Come on, Hales." He groaned. "Just go with it." He said huskily against her lips as he reached back down to find the zipper of her dress again, but she moved away from him completely. "Haley, what the hell?" He asked sitting up, coming closer to her.

"I said stop." She said sternly.

"Hales, come on. What's your problem?" He asked, moving closer to her again.

"Have you been drinking?" She asked him incredulously as she smelled a whiff of his breath.

"No." He denied, but she could tell that was a lie. There was no denying it with the smell of his breath.

"I don't want to do this. Let's just...let's go back down to the party." She said as she took her lower lip in between her teeth.

"You don't want to be with me?" He asked her.

"Not like this. No. Not in a hotel room at your parent's Christmas party when you've been drinking and probably won't remember it in the morning." She seriously. "Come on, let's go back downstairs." She said softly, holding her hand out for him to take.

"You can go, but I'm staying here." He said defiantly, laying back on the bed and ignoring the hand she was holding out.

Haley sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She said softly, opening the door and shutting it behind her as she wiped a single tear from her eye.

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**Don't hate me. I needed this to set up for the next few chapters. Don't forget to review. Thanks.**


	16. Reflecting Feelings

**I am so so sorry for the wait for an update. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Please review this chapter too!**

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Haley couldn't even begin to explain how she was feeling at the moment. There were so many different emotions flowing through her all at the same time. She couldn't concentrate and she couldn't think straight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax herself.

She had never seen Nathan like this before and she was positive that she did not like that side of him. He had never been like that with her. He had been so aggressive and angry-like. He had hardly waited two minutes after getting into that room before he was trying to get her dress off. He didn't even listen to her when she had told him to stop the first time. She had to repeat herself and then move away from him. She didn't like that and she didn't want to see him act like that again. She wondered if it was only the alcohol or there was another part of him that was actually behaving like that because he wanted to. She hoped not. And if he always acted like that when he had alcohol in his system then she didn't want to be around an intoxicated Nathan. She was still in shock that he had acted the way he just did. She didn't want to see him like that ever again. In fact, she never wanted to see him act like that in the first place.

Haley ran a hand through her hair as she took another deep breath. What was she going to do with him? She couldn't be around him right now, but then again she couldn't just leave him in the hotel room all night. He was probably already passed out if his breath had any indication how much he had to drink.

After composing herself, she walked back down the stairs Nathan had just pulled her up minutes ago and scanned the room for the person she was looking for. A few minutes later and Haley finally saw the head of blonde hair she was looking for. She walked as hurriedly as she could in her two inch heels to catch up with him.

"Lucas!" She called out over the Christmas music that was playing. She knew that if anyone could help her with Nathan, it would be Lucas. Who better than his own brother anyway? She definitely wouldn't go to his father for help.

Lucas spun around at hearing his name being called out. He was searching for Brooke, who he hadn't seen since she took off to find the bathroom ten minutes ago, but turned around and saw Haley racing towards him. "Woah, slow down." He said once she was close enough to hear him.

"Sorry, I just...it's...um, Nathan." She stammered to get out.

Lucas scrunched his face in confusion as Haley spoke so fast that he couldn't even understand a word that she was saying. "Haley, stop. Say all of that, but slower this time." He laughed.

"Sorry. Again." She said meekly. "Um, you need to go upstairs. Nathan's in like the...second...or maybe it was the third room, I don't really remember it was all so fast, but uh he's up there, most likely passed out by now if how bad his breath smelled let on to how much he drank, but anyway you need to go get him and do something with him, I don't know what. But he can't he stay up there by himself while he's drunk." She finished.

"And you can't be with him because..." He trailed off, wanting Haley to fill in the rest of his sentence. He didn't want to spend the rest of his night playing babysitter to his brother. He really just spend the night being with his beautiful girlfriend, who he still had yet to find.

"Um, that's actually a whole other story, but just go make sure he's okay." She told him vaguely. "Please?" She added in a soft whisper.

Lucas studied the look in the her eyes, seeing the desperation in them he sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll check on him. But I'm not making any promises that I'll be with him the rest night." He gave in.

"Thank you. Thank you, Lucas." She said as she hugged him. She pulled away and gave him a small smile. "Uh, is there any way that I could maybe go back to your house early?" She timidly asked. She didn't want to be at this fancy party anymore. She felt even more out of place without Nathan there beside her.

"You can take my car if you want." He offered as he pulled his car keys out from one of the pockets of his dress pants. "I can just take Nathan's car home." He explained.

Haley shook her head. "I don't know how to get back to your house from here. Is there a cab I could take? I mean they're running right? With all the people that get drunk on Christmas Eve and all?" She asked, scoffing a little to herself at the irony of her talking about drunks and her boyfriend was upstairs being one of them.

"Yeah, I think there's a few parked outside. You know, waiting for the drunks to come staggering out needing a ride home." He said trying to joke to lighten the serious mood that Haley seemed to be sporting.

She cracked a smile and nodded her head. "Thanks, Luke." She said as she started to walk over to retrieve her jacket and purse. "Don't forget to go to Nathan." She said as twirled around to face him quickly and then continued on her way out. Even when she was so upset with Nathan, she couldn't help but need to know that he would be okay.

Lucas sighed heavily. Why did he have a feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that somehow, someway, his brother had screwed up with Haley? Now he had to go and find his idiot of a younger brother. Speaking of finding people, where the hell was Brooke? He would go look for her next. First, he had told Haley he would go check on his brother. As Lucas starting heading for the stairs he felt someone tugging on his arm.

"Broody, where's Haley going?" Brooke asked curiously. She had been waiting in line to use the bathroom for what seemed like forever and then on her way back to find Lucas she had seen Haley rushing out of the hotel. What was going on? Was she really waiting in line for the bathroom that long?

"She's taking a cab home. Something about Nathan. She wouldn't tell me though." Lucas answered as he tried to figure out where Brooke had just come from.

"I'm going to go with her. Sounds like she needs a friend." Brooke said sympathetically as she leaned up and hurriedly popped a kiss on Lucas' lips. "Here, give me your keys. Ride with Nathan." She said taking the car keys he pulled out from his pocket and handed to her, before rushing off in the same direction as Haley just went.

Lucas stood there and blinked a few times. There went his night. Thank you, Nathan. He reluctantly turned back around and headed for the stairs. It wasn't like he had anything better to do now anyway. He rolled his eyes. Of course leave it up to Nathan to not only ruin his own night, but now Lucas' too. As Lucas climbed the set of stairs he couldn't help but wonder what the hell his brother got into now.

Lucas remembered Haley saying that she couldn't remember if it was the second or third room that Nathan was in. What another great thing to add on to this wonderful evening he was having. This wasn't exactly the way he had planned on spending Christmas Eve; babysitting his brother.

He knocked on the second door and waited a few minutes before knocking again a little bit louder this time after no one responded. Lucas decided to try knocking one more time which turned out to be a mistake as he heard someone scream "Go away!" Oops. He moved on to the next door. "Nathan?" He called out as knocked. "Nate, open the door." A few minutes later the door cracked open and his brother's head popped out.

"What do you, Lucas, want?" Nathan stammered to get out, even if it was incorrect, as he pulled the door open wider for his brother.

Oh gosh. Lucas rolled his eyes. His brother was a mess. As Lucas walked further into the room he immediately took notice of the fact that is brother had already raided the mini bar. This was going to be interesting. "What happened, Nate?" He asked. Haley hadn't given him any details, she just made him come check on his idiotic brother.

"Haley?" He asked incoherently out of nowhere. The last thing Nathan remembered was him bringing Haley up here and then her eventually leaving. He barely remembered what happened between him and her. And where was she now?

Lucas shook his head. Nathan was pretty good at handling his alcohol, so he must have found some strong stuff in that mini bar over in the corner of the room. "She went back to the house, Nate." He informed him.

Nathan cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows together. "Why?" He asked cluelessly.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He said honestly. He wished he knew why, especially since because Nathan made Haley leave, Brooke left with her to go see what happened. He knew that Brooke was just being a good friend to Haley, but he really wanted to spend Christmas Eve with her. Maybe later of this never-ending night.

"I want her." Nathan slurred.

Lucas sighed and looked at his brother sympathetically and patted him on the back. "What do you say we go home? Come on, we'll get you some water or something to help sober you up a little bit." He suggested, hoping Nathan agreed.

To Lucas' dismay, Nathan shook his head. "I want Haley." He repeated.

"If we go home, you can see Haley." Lucas tried to bribe his brother. "Come on, let's go." He said leading Nathan towards the still cracked open door.

"Haley! Wait up!" Brooke called out as she followed Haley through the doors of the hotel's main lobby entrance, still struggling to get her jacket on.

Haley spun around at hearing someone call out her name. As she turned around she saw Brooke running through the hotel doors, chasing after her, her jacket half on. "Brooke? What are you doing?" She asked her incredulously.

Once Brooke reached Haley she dangled the keys to Lucas' car in front of them. "I'm going with you. Or taking you back to the Scott's house. Whatever." She proclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"Lucas told me something happened with Nathan. You need a friend and a ride home. I'm a friend and I have the keys to a car." Brooke explained to Haley.

Haley vigorously shook her head. "Brooke, no. You don't need to do that. There's an extravagant party inside. You live for parties. You, go back inside and have fun with Lucas. I'm just going to take a cab back to the Scott's. I'll be fine. Go have fun." Haley protested.

"Haley, I want to go with you. You don't have a choice." She said stressing the word want. Brooke put her hands on her hips, showing there was no room for argument.

Haley sighed. She had grown to know that when Brooke said something she meant there was no changing her mind. She sighed and followed Brooke to Lucas' car.

It wasn't that Haley didn't want Brooke there with her, she just felt bad that Brooke was leaving the party early because Haley didn't want to be there any longer. She didn't think Brooke should have to leave. But she appreciated Brooke being a good friend and wanting to be there to comfort her. Even if she wasn't really ready to vent about what happened, but she knew that she would most likely be upset about it a little later, after she had changed into sweatpants and was pigging out on ice cream, once everything had finally hit her, once she realized it, then that's when she would want her friend to cry to.

Haley obediently got into the passenger's side of Lucas' car as Brooke got into the driver's side. Throughout the whole ride back to the Scott house Haley sat quietly looking out the window, drowning in her thoughts. The drive was in complete silence except for whatever noises the car or one of them when they moved made. Brooke kept glancing over at Haley, who was always in the same position of staring out the window. Brooke was worried about her friend. Haley was a chatter-box. She was always talking. Brooke didn't like this quiet version of Haley, this sad version of Haley. Brooke racked her brain with countless scenarios of what could have possibly happened back at the Christmas Eve party. It was driving her crazy not knowing what happened and what was making Haley upset.

Haley felt the car slowly coming to a stop. She knew that she was going to have to deal with things eventually, but she was didn't know if she was actually ready to yet. Things had been going so great between her and Nathan and now she wasn't so sure anymore. This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to feel like this. Why did this have to happen now, when everything was so great between the two of them?

Life was weird sometimes. Sometimes you found yourself feeling everything, yet nothing at all. This was like what Haley was feeling right now. She could felt that she could feel it all, but nothing at the same time. It was weird. She didn't understand it, or even realize it at the moment. She was so confused. Maybe she was going to have her break down sooner than she had originally expected, after all.

Brooke killed the engine of the car. She got out and walked over to the passenger side, where Haley was sitting. Brooke opened the door and looked at her friend through sympathy filled eyes. She reached over and touched Haley on the arm. "Come on, Hales. Let's go inside." She said softly. At the moment it seemed as if Haley was in her own spaced out world. She had such a far-off, yet saddened look in her eyes. Brooke stared at her wondering what Haley was thinking. She looked so sad and Brooke didn't what she should do to help Haley. First thing was first, she needed to get to the bottom of the problem; she needed to find out what it was exactly that was making Haley this way.

Haled subconsciously nodded her head. It was like she didn't even know she was doing it. She allowed Brooke to lead her up the path that led to the front door of the house. After Brooke had unlocked the door, Haley mindlessly walked through the house and curled herself up on the couch.

Brooke watched as one of the people she had grown to care about so much, laid there on the couch with an emotionless look on her face. She wasn't even crying or complaining and Brooke couldn't comprehend what was going on. If Nathan didn't do something really wrong, then Brooke had no clue what was causing Haley to be this way.

Brooke had known Nathan and Lucas for a long time. She had grown up with them for almost her whole life. She had watched Nathan become the ultimate player. All throughout high school he had always been the love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. He never really had any sort of serious relationship with a girl. Actually, just cross out serious, he had never really had an official relationship with any girl before. He usually just went from girl to girl, never sticking to one particular one. There had been a few girls that were lucky enough to go out with him two or three times, but nothing ever lasted. Until Haley came along.

Nathan had never been with one girl even half as long as he had ever been with Haley. And they had been together for almost two months now. She was happy to see him finally find someone that he wanted to be with more than one or two times. He deserved to find someone that he wanted to be with. Haley too.

Brooke had seen them so happy together and she was going to kill Nathan if he had screwed that all up. But she decided she was going to wait to hear everything that happened before she started jumping to all kinds of crazy conclusions.

For now, Brooke settled on sitting down next to Haley and rubbing circles on her back as a way of trying to comfort her and let Haley know that she was there for her.

After getting Nathan into the elevator and then finding Nathan's keys in the pocket of his jacket, Lucas still had to inform at least one of his parents that they were leaving. Also that Haley and Brooke had left too. And if there was one parent to tell, it would definitely be Karen. Lucas knew Dan would have a fit and demand that they stay. As the elevator doors opened, Lucas had realized that there was no way he could walk around trying to find his mom while also having to keep Nathan from staggering around, making a fool of himself. So, he decided that he would make Nathan wait in the car for him. He wasn't planning on being in there a long time.

Ten minutes later Luke was getting into Nathan's car, where he found his brother sleeping. Lucas sighed as he started the car to drive back to his parent's house. He knew that Brooke and Haley had to be there by now, but he had no clue what was going on there. He wasn't even sure what was going to happen once he and Nathan arrived back at the house. He felt so out of the loop, but then again, Nathan and Haley were the only ones that knew everything. Actually make that only Haley definitely knew everything. Lucas had his doubts about that Nathan really remembers. Even though maybe he wasn't really as drunk as he seemed to be. You could never really tell with Nathan. He always held his alcohol pretty well, but every once in awhile it would effect him. He could usually just sleep it off.

Sometime after Brooke had started rubbing circles on Haley's back, the tears started pouring out. It was just streams of tears coming from her eyes. Brooke felt her heart breaking a little for Haley just based on what she was witnessing. "It's okay, Hales." Brooke kept repeating, even though she really didn't know that. She still didn't even know what was going on. She passed Haley the box of tissues that had been conveniently sitting on the coffee table.

Haley sniffled as she moved into a sitting position, tucking her feet underneath her. "Thanks." She whispered as she wiped at some of the falling tears. Gosh, she felt like such a mess. She didn't even know why she was making this such a big deal. It really wasn't if she really thought about it. Okay, well maybe it kind of was, but she just felt like it was so out of proportion. Her boyfriend obviously got drunk, brought her up to a hotel room, tried to have sex with her, and then got mad at her when she stopped him. She let out a frustrated sigh as she ran one of her hands through her hair and cleared her throat.

"You want to talk about what happened?" Brooke softly asked. She didn't want Haley feel like she had to tell her if she didn't want to.

Haley slightly nodded her head. "Um, we–" She stopped and took a deep breath. "Everything was fine. We were going to dance, but then Dan wanted to bring Nathan over to meet some person. I don't remember who. A few minutes after he found me, he was dragging me up these stairs and I had no clue where we were going, but I didn't really care. He took me in a room and we were kissing and then almost one second later we were laying on the bed and he was trying to unzip my dress. I moved his hand away, but we kept kissing and it was fine, but then he tried to do it again." She paused. "It's not that I don't want to be with Nathan because that's not it. I just don't take sex lightly. Honestly, I'm still a virgin. And I sort of told him that before we started dating, it was after I broke up with Damien, I told him that I never slept with Damien and that had been the last two years of my life. Even though it had been on and off I never really got into anything serious when I wasn't with him. I wanted to wait for true love. But anyway, I pushed him away completely this time and as he started protesting, that was when I could smell the alcohol on his breath. So he got mad that I didn't want to sleep with him and I suggested that we back to the party. He said no, so I left and I just couldn't be there anymore. I made Luke check on him since I just left him up there, drunk by himself and you followed me out." Haley explained finally. She just didn't know why it hurt so much.

"Oh, Haley." Brooke said and pulled her friend in for a hug. "I've known Nathan for a long time, but he's a jerk. Especially, for this. Want me to kick his ass?" Brooke joked to lighten the mood a little bit, although if Haley really wanted her to she would definitely do it.

Haley let out a half laugh. "No, thanks anyway."

"So, what's going to happen now?" Brooke asked.

Haley shrugged. "I don't really know. Do you feel like I'm over-exaggerating about this? Truthfully." She asked wanting another person's opinion.

Brooke shook her head. "Haley, no. If your virginity is really that important to you that you have waited for so long and he wasn't respecting that you need to stand up for yourself."

Haley nodded as she opened her mouth to speak.

"No." Brooke said not letting Haley speak. "Drunk or not; stand your ground, girl."

"How did you know..." Haley trailed off.

Brooke winked and smiled at her as she shrugged her shoulders and then pulling Haley in for a hug.

"Nate, wake up." Lucas said as he shook his brother's shoulder.

Nathan opened his eyes to see his brother in driver's seat of his car. Then it all flooded his memory and he remember he had screwed up with Haley.

"How are you feeling?" Lucas asked with a small smirk planted on his face.

"Alright. No pounding headache, so it can't be that bad. Must've slept it off. Plus, did you give me coffee?" He asked.

Lucas laughed and nodded his head, knowing Nathan wasn't a big fan of coffee.

"Asshole." He groaned. "So, I guess I got some apologizing to do." He said.

"Yeah, I don't know too much about that." Lucas admitted. "Ready to go inside and see what's up with Brooke and Haley?" He asked.

Nathan reluctantly nodded his head and got out the car. He didn't know how mad Haley was. He wasn't looking forward to this. Not one bit.

Lucas walked into the living room with Nathan in tow, where they found Brooke enveloping in Haley in a hug on the couch.

"Broody." Brooke said with a cheeky smile as she pulled away from Haley and saw him in the room and then just glared at Nathan. "You alright, Hales?" She asked low enough just for the two of them to hear.

Haley nodded her head and stared at her hands that were in her in her lap.

"Haley?" Nathan asked with the strongest voice he was able to find. He doubted this was going to be easy.

She looked up, indicating that she heard him.

"Can we talk?" He asked hopefully. He had no idea what exactly he was going to say to her. Other than the obvious; 'I'm sorry.' He knew he needed to apologize and that his earlier actions were wrong, even if he wasn't thinking clearly. He just wanted, no he needed, her to listen to him. At least have a chance to explain himself. Sort of, if it was possible. It wasn't like he had meant to do any of this. He just wanted things to be better. Back to before. He wished he could take back what he did, but that wasn't possible.

Haley bit her lower lip and slightly nodded her head. She knew they couldn't put this off.


	17. I Love You

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed - I love reading them. Here's the chapter you've been waiting for. Don't forget to please review.**

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Brooke watched Haley follow Nathan out of the Scott living room, leaving her and Lucas alone. She smiled at her boyfriend as he walked over to sit next to her on the couch. He pulled her in for a kiss and she smiled against his lips. She had missed him while she was with Haley and he was with Nathan.

"Hi." She greeted as they finally pulled away from each other. "I missed you." She said, showing off her big, dimpled smile.

"I missed you too." Lucas replied. "So, what actually happened because I know nothing. And I'm so confused."

Brooke scoffed. "Your brother's a big asshole and a jerk." She replied in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "What did he do now?" He questioned.

"Lucas, you are putting me in such a bad position. But even though I don't know if Haley would want me to tell you I am going to anyway. If anyone asks, it is all your fault." She started. "They were having a good time together or whatever and then Dan swiped Nathan away. He came back, brought her upstairs to a room, within minutes he was trying to get her dress off and then was getting mad at her when she wouldn't sleep with him and that was when she could smell all the alcohol he had consumed." Brooke explained.

Lucas shook his head. "My brother is an idiot." He finally said. "How bad is it?" He asked knowing Brooke would most likely be able to tell just by Haley.

Brooke sighed. "She was almost emotionless for the longest time. Then she finally just cried. So many tears, Luke. I'm guessing it's pretty bad. She couldn't even tell me why it hurt so much." Brooke informed him. She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Luke. I just don't know." She said softly, feeling terrible for her friend.

It was Lucas' turn to sigh. What had his brother done now? Lucas knew there was nothing that he could do to help his brother now. All he could do was sit there and wait to find out how talking with Haley had went. Which only ended up making Lucas feel useless.

Haley swallowed another lump that she could feel forming in her throat. Her big, chocolate, brown eyes glazed over with unshed tears. She had effortlessly thrown her auburn colored waves up into a messy bun on the top of her head, except for the few stubborn strands that would not stay up, instead taking a place behind her ear. She then proceeded to change out of her dress and into some pajamas. She had been pacing then length of the room back and forth for what had to be the last fifteen minutes. Haley let out a frustrated sigh and took a seat on the edge of the bed, playing with her hands in her lap and occasionally biting her bottom lip as her nervous thoughts got the best of her.

Talking with Nathan had not gone very well. Actually, it had not gone at all. And it was her fault. She covered with her face with her hands and closed her eyes as she kept playing the scene over and over again in her mind.

_Haley reluctantly followed Nathan out of the living the room. Away from where she was safe from having this conversation. She didn't want to do this right now; have the conversation she knew was about to take place, but she knew that they were going to have to do it sooner or later and she had always heard that sooner was better than later. They couldn't put this off. They needed to have this conversation and she knew it. One side of her was telling her that she needed to do this now and yet there was another side of her that was telling her that she wasn't able to. _

_They headed upstairs into Nathan's room so that they could get some privacy, not having to worry about Lucas and Brooke, well mostly Brooke, listening in on their conversation. _

_Haley stood and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at the ground to avoid looking at Nathan._

_Nathan shut the door behind him and turned around to find Haley staring at her feet which were now bare and had been discarded the heels that made her much taller. He knew that she was probably looking at her feet because she couldn't look at him, which only made him feel even worse than he already did._

"_Hales." Nathan said softly._

_Haley shook her head as she continued to look down. "Please don't." She said so softly that it was almost not audible, as she lifted her head for a moment, but looking past him and to the wall that was behind him._

"_Can you at least look at me?" He asked pleadingly. All he wanted to do was go back and erase how he had acted earlier that night, but he couldn't and he knew that there was nothing he could do to take it back therefore he had to settle on just trying to make things better again. Which was even harder when she didn't even want to see him. He could practically feel the discomfort radiating off her. He sighed when he realized that she wasn't going to offer any kind of answer. "Look, Haley, I–"_

_She cut him off. "I can't do this right now." She whispered. "I just need a little more time. I need to be by myself." She said. _

_Nathan felt a pang of pain in his stomach as she spoke to him. He didn't want to leave. He just wanted to hold her and kiss her and tell her that he was sorry and then everything would be okay. But he knew that, that wasn't possible. He sighed as he nodded his head. There was nothing else he could do. For now at least. He knew that he needed to give her a little space right now. Even if that was the last thing he wanted to do._

"_You can...you can um, stay in here tonight." He said as he turned to exit his room. "Haley," He said as she looked up at him for the first time since they got in there. "I really am sorry. So, whenever you want to talk..." He trailed off, not finishing his sentence as he left her in there._

She felt so stupid. Every time she replayed it in her mind it got increasingly worse. Why couldn't she just have sucked up her fright and made herself brave enough to just have a conversation with him? What was she so afraid of anyway? Even if she knew the answer, she just wasn't ready to admit it to herself. And if she couldn't even admit it to herself, then there was definitely no way she would be able to admit it to anyone else, let alone Nathan.

After leaving Haley in his room, Nathan had realized that he was still in his dress clothes. He didn't want to bother Haley, so he ended up finding some clothes in Lucas' room. He figured Lucas wouldn't mind and if he did, oh well.

He took a seat on the edge of Lucas' bed and dropped his head into his hands. He didn't know what he was going to do. Haley had become such a big part of his life. And now he couldn't imagine his life without her. What was he going to do without her? Would he have to be without her? He didn't know what she wanted or what was going through her mind. All he knew was that he needed her in his life. And he was pretty positive that he couldn't only be her friend.

These feelings that he was having for her were unexplainable. He had never felt like this before in his whole life. He didn't know what it was exactly. It was hard to describe and he didn't know if he would ever be able to explain what he was feeling.

He got up and walked back downstairs. There was no point in just sitting in Lucas' room brooding about what had already happened. It made him feel even weirder brooding in Lucas' room because Lucas was the family brooder, not Nathan. Nathan did not brood. That was his brother's job.

Speaking of his brother, as he reached the bottom of the stairs he could see Lucas and Brooke in the middle of a full on make-out session on the couch. It looked like they were about to rip each other's clothes off any minute now and the was definitely not something he wanted to see. Right now or ever. Now especially after what had just happened with him and Haley. Gosh, he was such an idiot.

Even though people always say you should take responsibility for your actions, if he thought back to it, it was his father's fault. If Dan had never said those things about Haley then he never would have gotten drunk therefore he never would have brought her up to that room. And if he wasn't drink he never would have tried anything with her that she wasn't ready for. Especially knowing that that was something that was important to her. Once again, his father managed to ruin everything good in his life. Right now, Haley was the best thing in his life. Well, not so much at the moment any more. Thanks to his ass of a father.

Nathan cleared his throat, making his presence known to Brooke and Lucas. Not that they probably cared anyway. Brooke was never one to care about public display of affection. "Put some ice on it." He grumbled as he walked through the room and plopped down onto a recliner as he grabbed the remote control and turned the television on. He needed something to get his mind off Haley.

Brooke and Lucas pulled away from each other as they each straightened out their clothing. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked.

"Uh, watching TV. What does it look like?" Nathan replied not taking his eyes off the screen as he tried to concentrate on the game that was being showed on ESPN Classics.

"He meant, what are you doing down here instead of being upstairs talking to Haley. You know, fixing your mistakes." Brooke said. If he wasn't even trying to make up for what he had done then he was even a bigger ass than she had originally thought.

"She doesn't want to talk right now." Nathan informed them with his eyes still glued to the large TV screen in front of him.

"What happened? She agreed to talk to you." Brooke started questioning. She was really concerned with this whole situation, for Haley's sake.

"Hold that thought." Lucas said as the house phone started ringing. "It's Mom." He announced as he looked at the caller ID before answering.

"Hey Mom." He said into the phone. "We all got home okay...Every thing is fine, Mom...No...Yes...Okay...Alright, I'll see you both tomorrow then...I love you too...Okay, Bye." Lucas said as he hung up the phone call with his mother.

Nathan finally tore his eyes away from the TV. "What did she want?" He asked looking at his brother.

"Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa are all staying at the hotel tonight. They'll be back later tomorrow. She was just calling to let us know and to try to discretely check up on us." Lucas said.

Nathan just nodded his head as returned his gaze back to the basketball game, hoping that the subject of him and Haley would be dropped. For now at least.

"Excuse me. You didn't answer my question." Brooke said with attitude evident in her voice. Something that you usually didn't want to mess with. Brooke could be dangerous.

"Which one?" Nathan asked, trying his hardest to stall on answering any questions she had. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was be interrogated by Brooke all night long.

Before Brooke even had the chance to answer Nathan's question, which she knew he only asked so that he didn't have to answer her right away, she heard the patter of slipper clad feet coming down the wooden staircase. The three occupants of the living room all turned their heads to see Haley coming down. Well, at least she wasn't locking herself away from everyone, upstairs by herself. That was a plus. None of them wanted her to feel like she was being stared at, even though she was, so they all quickly turned their heads away.

Haley took a deep breath before entering the Scott living room. She had contemplated sitting in Nathan's room until she fell asleep, but being in there only made her think about him even more considering it was his room. She made her way into the room and took a seat on a comfy, over-sized chair. It just so happened to be the farthest seat away from Nathan. Not the she had actually done that intentionally, it just happened to be the closest seat to the entrance of the room.

She tucked her feet underneath her as she sat down. She wanted to smile when she saw the TV was turned on to an ESPN Classic game. She had gotten used to her laying with Nathan as he watched them. At first he had tried to explain the game to her and what was going on during each play of the game, but he eventually gave up and just stopped trying once she still never understood what he was trying to tell her. She forced herself not to look at him because she knew she would only end up staring at him. Instead she turned her head and looked out the window.

Brooke and Lucas felt so awkward with the whole situation. It was like they couldn't make any sound. Both of them could see Nathan staring at Haley. Lucas felt bad for his brother a little bit. But both Brooke and Lucas knew that there wasn't anything that either of them could do to help fix any of this. It was Nathan and Haley's problem, whatever it was, and they were the ones that could fix it.

Nathan stared at Haley. He watched her stare out the window. Her hair was sloppily placed on the top of her head and there was a few wisps of hair here and there that were falling down and framing her face. She was wearing the same gray Duke University sweatshirt she had been wearing the first time he had met her. She also had on a pair of dark blue sweatpants and fuzzy, purple slippers were on her feet. Even from where he was sitting he could see that her eyes were slightly puffy and he knew from that, that she had been crying. He always noticed those kinds of things about her. He couldn't help it. He so badly wished that she were curled up on the recliner with him. But it was his fault that she wasn't.

He glanced over at his brother who was cuddling up with Brooke. He felt jealously run through him. He wanted that with Haley. As he continued to stare at her, he kept realizing more and more how important to him she was. She had become his world. Other than basketball that is. He couldn't lose her. Not because of this. He wasn't going to let it happen. No matter what she wanted. He at least wasn't going down without a fight. He was sure of it.

Haley could feel a certain pair of blue eyes staring at her intently. She didn't know if she should turn to meet his gaze or not. Every time he looked at her she got this funny feeling inside her stomach. There was butterflies. When he touched her she could feel what felt like jolts of electricity coursing through her. And when he kissed her...it was just the most incredible feeling in the world. She had never felt anything like it before Nathan came along and she didn't think she would ever feel anything better than these feelings. It was indescribable.

Taking a risk, she turned her head and her brown eyes met his blue ones. He was looking at her so intently and at the moment she thought he could see right through her and deep into her soul. Her breath caught in her throat and could have sworn her heart skipped a beat.

She wedged her bottom lip in between her teeth as they continued to stare at one another. Almost not blinking, afraid the other person would look away if they did.

She couldn't be having these feelings. Not yet. It was too soon. Right? It had to be. There was no way she could already be feeling this. It hadn't really been that long. But then again, she had been drawn to him ever since she met him. Maybe this really was happening. It was all so fast. Too fast. But the only question that seemed to plague her mind was if he felt the same way.

"Nathan, put a Christmas movie on." Brooke demanded from her seat on the couch next to Lucas.

At hearing Brooke's voice, Haley turned her head forcing her gaze to be ripped away from Nathan's.

Nathan silently cursed Brooke in his head as he looked at her. He knew there was no point in arguing with her so he settled for just tossing the remote onto the couch. He wasn't paying attention to the game that was on anyway. He was too enthralled with Haley. He noticed she went back to looking out the window. Nathan got up from the recliner and walked out of the room. He decided to get some air and step out onto the deck in the back yard.

Nathan heard the sliding door open and then slide shut. He didn't turn around though. He figured that it was only going to be his brother.

"What are you doing out here?" A soft voice asked. He loved that voice.

He looked over to see Haley wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him to keep her warm, but he wasn't sure if he could. He shrugged his shoulders. "Thinking." He answered simply.

Haley nodded her head as she continued to avoid his eyes.

"Why did you come out here?" He finally asked.

Haley shrugged. "I forced myself to come and talk to you. It shouldn't be put off because I don't feel like talking, because I'm scared." She said truthfully. She sighed. "Nathan..." She began, but trailed off.

"Haley, I just want you to know that I am so sorry. You know that right?" He asked her.

Haley didn't say or do anything in response to him.

"Well, I am." Nathan began again. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I was drunk and I'm not trying to use that as an excuse to make up for my mistakes. I was an ass." He tried to explain. "I'm not like you."

This caught her attention as her head whipped up. "What's that supposed to mean?" She questioned as her eyes narrowed.

"I screw up a lot. And being around you, I don't want to be that guy anymore." He confessed.

"Who do you want to be, Nathan?" She asked him.

"Somebody who's good enough to be seen with you." He answered truthfully. "I made a mistake. A big one. But I want to make up for it." He added.

"Why were you getting drunk anyway?" She asked softly. It was a question she had been wanting to know the answer to since the incident. It wasn't as if she had never seen Nathan have a drink before because she had. She had just never seen him the way he had acted earlier.

"Honestly?" He asked as the memory of everything his father had said earlier that night ran through his mind.

She nodded her head. "That would be good." There was no point in knowing if what she was hearing wasn't even the truth, if it wasn't what actually happened. She didn't want him to feed her lies, but that meant she had to be completely truthful with him as well even if she was scared.

"Alright well..." He started but then stopped. He didn't know how he was going to tell her the truth without having her get hurt even more. He didn't want to tell her all the horrible things his father had said about her. He couldn't tell her. It wasn't even like any of it was true. "I just got in an argument with my Dad. That's all. We got in a fight, I got a drink and then a few more to cool off my temper and it helped. Then I found you..." Nathan told her honestly. He just didn't elaborate on what the fight with his dad was about. And he wasn't going to. "Haley, I just want you to know that I would never purposely try to push you or force you into doing anything that you didn't want to or weren't ready for. I respect you and your decisions about sex. When you're ready, I'll be too." He truthfully added. He didn't know what else to say. He just hoped that she would forgive him.

Haley nodded her head as she listened to Nathan and leaned against the railing on the deck. She should have guessed it had something to do with Dan Scott. After what she had seen at dinner a few nights ago. Of course he had something to do with it. She rolled her eyes at the thought of him. She thought he was a pathetic and selfish person. How Nathan had dealt with that man for so long she would never know.

She wanted to forgive Nathan so bad. She really did. But could she already? Was she ready for what she was feeling? Her head and her heart were conflicting with each other and she didn't know which to follow. It was an inner battle; head versus heart. Which team would she end up being on was the question. Which part of her was she going to listen to and follow?

"You believe me, right?" Nathan asked. He was afraid that she wouldn't believe him and that they would never be able to fix things.

Haley nodded. She believed him. She really did. She just didn't know if she could admit how she was feeling yet.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't even feeling the effects of the cold weather. She didn't notice as rain had started pouring down from the sky.

"So what does this mean for us?" Nathan asked, pulling her away from her thoughts. He knew that she was the one that was going to have to make the decision. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to him. Because if it was, this would all be over and forgotten with.

"I don't know, Nathan." She said softly.

"When are you going to know?" He asked. "What do you need me to do?" He begged for her to tell him how to make this better.

"I don't know." She said raising her voice back to normal.

"Haley..."

"I don't know what you want me to say to you. I don't know what you want from me." She raised her voice even more. She was getting so flustered and frustrated. She could feel her cheeks turning red, but not from embarrassment.

"I apologized. What else do you want me to do? I'll do it. Let me fix it." Nathan told her, speaking equally as loud as her. "I just want you. So, come on Hales, meet me halfway here." He said as he voice returned to normal, pleading for her to forgive him and to put this all behind them.

"Why should I?" She asked desperately.

"Because I–"

"What Nathan? Because you what?" She felt little rain drops falling on her face. Her hair was getting wet and her clothes were beginning to stick to her skin.

"Because I'm in love with you." He admitted. Wow. He hadn't even realized he was blurting that out until it had already been said. Looks like he found the word to describe what he was feeling.

Haley's breath caught in her throat. Oh my God. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. He did not just say what she thought he just said. There was no way. All of the feelings that she was experiencing, he was feeling it too. This was amazing.

"'What did you say?" She whispered almost barely audible. Was this some kind of a dream?

"I love you." Nathan repeated, his voice lowered back down to normal. "I don't know how it happened. I don't when it happened. Maybe it was from the first time I saw you and I knew you were different, special. You give me all these incredible feelings and I didn't even know that I could feel like this. And even though it was so unexpected, I do. I fell in love with you Haley James. And it scares me a little bit, but there it is."

Haley was frozen. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. It felt like she couldn't even breathe. Her heart was beating so quickly and so loud. She wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it. "Wow. There it is." She whispered. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. This was why it had hurt her so much. Because she loved him. Deep down she knew that was why it had hurt her as much as it did. She had made a decision; she was following her heart. She smiled at him. "I love you too." She said before leaping up, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing him.


	18. LOVE

**Sorry for the wait! But I loved the reviews--thanks so much. And I'm loving Season 5--it's amazing. Anyway, hope you like the next chapter. Please leave me a review. **

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Without breaking the kiss, Nathan lifted Haley up more and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them back inside the house due to the coldness of the air. There was a sudden flash that caused them to immediately pull away from each other, Haley sliding from Nathan's grip and back onto her slipper clad feet. They both turned around to find Brooke holding a camera in her hand with a big, dimpled smile on her face, Lucas standing behind her. Leave up it to Brooke to ruin a moment.

"Brooke! What are you doing?" Haley asked with a confused look on her face.

Brooke simply shrugged her shoulders in return. "You guys just looked so cute." She explained. "So, it looks like the two of you made up?" She asked eagerly.

Neither Haley nor Nathan could prevent the huge smiles that adorned their faces at Brooke's statement as they thought about the declarations they had just made right before.

Brooke eyed her two friends carefully as she saw big smiles appear on both of their faces due to her remark. What the hell was going on? A couple hours ago Haley was crying and less than fifteen minutes ago the two of them weren't even talking to one another. What had happened when they went outside?

Nathan pulled Haley closer to him and she snuggled into his side. She couldn't believe how fast this had all happened. Nathan had just confessed that he had fallen in love with her. And she revealed her own feelings by telling him that she had fallen in love with him too. It all happened so suddenly. But love wasn't about time, it was about their feelings for each other. Time had nothing to do with it.

At first, right when Nathan had told her of his feelings she wasn't sure if he was only saying that to her because he wanted to make things better with her. But then she could see it in his pretty, blue eyes that he was telling the truth. She saw so much love in his eyes.

Haley had been afraid of her feelings before he had said anything. She had just realized her own feelings and she didn't even know how he was feeling. Especially after the events at the party. Plus, at the time she had realized her own feelings they weren't even talking to each other or at least she wasn't really talking to him. It was more like an avoidance than the silent treatment. She had just needed some time to think things through in her own head. She needed to figure out why she was feeling as hurt as she had been. It wasn't as if something like that was the worst thing that could have ever happened. He didn't do anything so horrible to her that made her want to forget he even existed and never talk or see him again. Not that she thought that was even possible. She could barely imagine what her life would be like with Nathan not in it and if it was anything like what she thought it would be than she really didn't want to have to experience it. It wasn't really that bad of a thing. But she knows now that was really only as hurt as she was because she loved him and she didn't want to see him that way. She didn't want someone that she loved to act like that or treat her that way. That was why she had been so upset and she realized that now.

"What's up with you guys?" Lucas questioned as he raised one of his eyebrows. They were acting kind of weird. Especially since they were just sort of fighting.

Nathan got a big, goofy smile on his face as he spoke. "I love her." He explained simply. There was nothing else to it. He was in love with her. Nathan had never felt like this about a girl before Haley came along. This was all so new to him. He had never experienced anything even remotely close to this before. It was such an incredible feeling. He had never really thought about himself falling in love with anyone. It was never something he had to think about or deal with. He always had girls fawning over him left and right so he had never considered just sticking with just one of them. Why should he if he didn't have to was how he used to think of it.

Not anymore. Not since Haley. She's amazing. And he couldn't imagine putting himself out there and actually being vulnerable by admitting out loud how he was feeling with anyone else except for her. He didn't know what he had done without her for so long before he had known her.

He knew that he never should have let what his dad say at the party effect him as bad as it did. It had definitely caused him a lot of unnecessary problems. His dad always knew what to say to make him mad and it absolutely drove him crazy. Why did his dad always know what buttons to push, what nerves to hit? And even worse, why did Nathan always let his dad get to him as much as he did? He guessed he would never really know.

Thankfully for him, everything had been worked out with Haley. He hadn't actually been planning on telling her that he loved her, but in the heat of the moment he had just blurted it out without even realizing he was doing so. He had only realized his feelings soon before it happened. He had never been in love before. Not even anything close to it. He had actually been really afraid of putting himself out there and telling her about her feelings. Which was why he hadn't been originally planning on saying anything. At least not yet anyway. He was going to wait a while, until he could figure things out some more. But then he had just accidentally let it out without even knowing he what he was doing it. He was just as shocked at hearing those words come out of his mouth.

"What?" Brooke practically screamed. She had to be hearing this wrong because there was no way that she had heard Nathan Scott, the same guy that used to be the ultimate player, was saying that he was in love.

Haley nodded her head vigorously. "He loves me. And I love him." She revealed with a shy smile.

Brooke squealed. "You guys are in love?! This is so great! Naley's back together, people!" She exclaimed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nathan and Haley were in love. It was so perfect.

Thinking about it, Brooke never would have thought of putting those two together. At first sight, the two were extremely different; almost complete opposites. Haley was smart and studious, which Nathan wasn't. She liked reading, which Nathan didn't. She loved school, which Nathan didn't. He was athletic, which Haley wasn't. The list could go on and on. Even though there were more unalike qualities, at a closer look they did have some similar qualities as well. The both of them had big hearts. They were both so stubborn; although Haley knew how to handle her anger better unlike Nathan who could sometimes go overboard and fly off the handle with his bad temper. They were an unusual pair that no one had really expected, but they were proving everyone wrong and this declaration of their newly found love was only bringing them one more step closer together.

Brooke had originally been surprised when she found out that Nathan had a thing for Haley. It wasn't that Haley wasn't beautiful because she was, she just wasn't usually the kind of girls that Nathan went after. Brooke was overwhelmed with excitement for the couple. She was glad that Nathan wasn't hiding from his feelings like she knew he had a tendency to do. Nathan and Haley deserved to be happy and if they could find that happiness together that was great.

Brooke let out a squeal as she ran over and pulled Haley away from Nathan and into a hug. "This is so great. I'm so happy for you guys." She beamed as if she was a proud mother. "Are you really okay, though?" Brooke asked Haley quiet enough for only the two of them to hear.

Haley nodded her head as she pulled away from Brooke's embrace. "I'm good." She said, her smile reaching her eyes.

"You made up just in time too. It's going to be Christmas Eve in almost ten minutes. Isn't this perfect, Luke?" Brooke asked as she turned to face her own boyfriend.

"I think you're more happy than they are." He said gesturing to his brother and Haley. Brooke was acting as if she was the one in their situation. But she did always get overexcited about these kinds of things. It was her nature. Part of why he loved her.

Lucas was actually pretty shocked. He had not been expecting this. Probably because his brother wasn't known to be open about his feelings, or even stick to one girl. This was definitely not a side of his brother he had seen. Lucas wasn't sure if he had actually ever seen his brother this happy because of a girl before. Sure, Nathan aways had a girl clinging to him constantly or even a whole group of girls flocking towards him, but he had never actually been in something this serious before. Truthfully, Lucas was amazed that Nathan and Haley had lasted together this long. He had never pictured Nathan finally finding one girl he really liked, and now loved, and he had been beginning to think that Nathan would never have that.

Overall, Lucas was happy for his brother. Nathan deserved to find love. And Haley is a great girl. Lucas didn't ever realize it until now, but Nathan needed someone like her. She was great for Nathan. Hopefully, this was the biggest of their problems for a long time. Especially since Nathan was pretty much known for screwing things up.

"It's just so cute." Brooke defended. "Come on Broody, they probably want some alone time if you know what I mean." She said linking her own arm through Lucas', then throwing a wink in Nathan and Haley's direction, causing a blush to appear on Haley's face making it turn a shade of pink.

Haley buried her head into Nathan's sweatshirt as she snuggled into his side. She was really happy that they were able to get over what happened. She was actually pretty surprised that she had been able to let go of it that quickly, but then again she had always been a pretty forgiving person all of her life. Even though she had forgave him, she hadn't forgotten about what had happened. But she would get over it soon and be able to put it all her behind her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to have sex with Nathan, it was just that she wasn't quite sure she was ready to. Completely ready. At the time he had been drunk for one and she was not going to do that while he had been drinking. Plus she was so confused about everything that she had been feeling. Most of these feelings were really new to her. She had never been in this kind of love before and she knew it. She had always thought that she had been in love with Damien, but that was only because she had never felt anything like this before that. These feelings were ten times more intense than what she had thought love was before.

She had never got these kinds of butterflies in her stomach. Actually they were like gigantic moth-sized butterflies floating around. She couldn't stop thinking about Nathan. And when she wasn't with him, she wanted to be all of the time. She was completely in love with him and it kind of scared her how much she actually loved him. She was afraid of how strong her feelings really were. But it was the best feeling in the world. Especially knowing that he loved her back.

Haley closed her eyes as she let out a big yawn. This night had been so long and tiring with everything that had gone on. She felt so emotionally drained. Especially after all the different assortment of feelings that she had gone through during the entire today. From having a good time with Nathan, to him being an ass and her being hurt and upset by him, and then finally to Nathan revealing that he loved her and her admitting her own newly discovered feelings as well. So much had happened throughout this never-ending day that she just wanted it to finally be over.

"Tired?" Nathan asked her as he looked down seeing her yawn again.

Haley nodded her head against his shoulder. She was physically and emotionally worn out. She just wanted to crawl into bed and go to sleep. Her eyes fluttered closed just at the thought of sleep.

Her eyes flew open and she let out a squeal of surprise as Nathan had picked her up in one swift motion and began carrying her bride-style towards the stairs. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

Haley laughed. "Put me down. Nathan, you're gonna drop me." She said as he began making his way up the steps.

"Drop you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "If I wanted to I could throw you across the room like a three pointer. Want me to try?" He asked laughing as he swayed her in his arms a little as if he was preparing to throw her.

Haley's eyes widened as her arms tightened their grip on him. "Don't you dare." She warned, trying to being stern, but couldn't stop from giggling.

Once Nathan reached the doorway to his room, Haley squirmed and wiggled in his arms indicating that she wanted to be put down now. Nathan carefully returned Haley back to her feet. She opened the door to Nathan's childhood room, where they had been staying while at his parent's house.

They both took a seat on the foot of the bed. Haley could feel Nathan's piercing blue eyes staring down at her from his spot next to her. She looked over at him and she was taken aback by the intense gaze he was looking at her with.

"What?" She whispered. A whisper was all she could manage. Her breath felt like it was caught in her throat.

Nathan simply smiled at her and lightly shook his head.

"No, what?" She asked, finding her voice.

"Nothing. I just...I love you." He said, smiling even bigger. It felt so great to say that to her. He had never been in love before so he hadn't been sure what exactly it was that he was feeling. But he was pretty sure that this was one of the greatest feelings in the world.

His smile was contagious and she couldn't keep her own smile off her face at his words. She loved hearing it. Especially from him. "I love you too." She loved saying it just as much as she loved hearing it. Especially to him. This was the most incredible feeling ever. She couldn't believe how intense her feelings for him were.

She also couldn't believe that she was in love with this guy that she had accidentally met in a grocery store. What were the chances of her ever even seeing him again, let alone falling in love with the guy? Talk about fate or whatever you wanted to call it.

Nathan dipped his head down and captured her lips with his as he broke her out of her deep thoughts. She instantly responded back as she wrapped her arms around his neck, similar to how she had when he was carrying her up the stairs. She moaned softly into Nathan's mouth as she felt his tongue slid into hers, massaging her tongue with his own.

Haley lay back on the bed, Nathan following on top of her. Her hands moved to the back of his head and her fingers started playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. His mouth soon left her mouth and traveled down to her neck where he began placing hot kisses all along her neck and jaw. His hands traveled down to her hips and slowly snaked their way underneath her sweatshirt, touching the soft, smooth skin of her stomach. Haley involuntary shivered at his touch. It was like fire igniting on her skin wherever it was that his hands touched her skin.

Haley absentmindedly slid her hands down his back and under Nathan's shirt. She let her hands travel back up his back, feeling all his muscles as she did so. Nathan groaned at the feeling of her small hands sliding up and down his back. This girl turned him on so much more than any other girl even with just a simple touch from her. He didn't even think it was this possible to want someone as much as he wanted her.

Haley was in another world. She had never felt this good before. In the back of her mind she kept telling herself that she needed to stop this before things get too heated and they went too far to stop. But she couldn't seem to get herself to think straight enough to speak, let alone listen to the thoughts roaming in her head.

She pulled Nathan's head back up so she could kiss him again. Her resolve was getting weaker and weaker by each passing second. Everything that he was doing to her was slowly making her lose her mind.

"Haley." Nathan breathed her name against her mouth. He loved kissing her and making out with her, but things were getting heated pretty quickly and Nathan figured that it he didn't stop this now, he wouldn't be able to. And he wasn't taking any chances after what had happened at that boring party his parents forced them all to go to. Oh how he hated those parties. Only bad came from them. And earlier tonight was a perfect example of that.

"Hmm?" She moved her mouth down to his jaw, placing kisses along the side of it.

"Hales." Nathan groaned. He didn't know how much more he could take of this without losing control. She was driving him crazy. And he needed to stop things before it got too out of hand. Haley didn't seem to get the hint so he gently pushed himself off of her.

Haley looked up at him with her large, brown, doe-like eyes trying to figure out what he was saying.

"I just don't...well after what happened...I just think that we should stop." He stuttered on his explanation as he caught his breath.

Haley took a deep breath as she realized what he was saying. And he was right. She hadn't wanted to stop, but she was glad that Nathan had stopped them because she wanted to be positive that she was ready for that. And she knew that in the back of her mind she wasn't one hundred percent ready yet. She knew that she loved him and that he loved her too, but she just needed a little bit more time. She felt bad for not being the one that had stopped them considering that had been mostly the basis of their 'fight' earlier. Her heart swelled at the thought of Nathan being sweet enough to think of her morals even when she hadn't been really thinking about them herself.

She took another deep breath as she tried to collect herself. "You're right." She finally said. "I'm sorry." She whispered slightly.

Nathan's eyebrows furrowed. "Huh? What are you sorry for?" He asked confused.

Haley bit her lower lip. "Um, about making you wait so long." She embarrassedly admitted quietly as her cheeks flushed.

Nathan shook his head. "No, Haley, you don't have to be sorry, okay? Don't apologize. When you're ready, I'll be too. Okay?" He assured her.

Haley nodded her head. His words were melting her insides like putty. "I love you." She said leaning up and giving him a soft kiss.

Nathan smiled big. He loved hearing her say that to him. It was incredible. Who ever would have thought that he would be completely in love with someone? He had never really pictured that for himself, but now he couldn't really imagine it not being that way, especially with Haley. "I love you too."

He watched her face break out in a huge grin. She couldn't believe how fast she had fallen for him, but she wouldn't change it for anything. It was the most amazing feeling ever and she never wanted it to be over. She never wanted this to end and she hoped that it wouldn't, but she didn't want to think about that right now–or ever really.

"Let's just go to sleep." Nathan suggested, remembering she had said that she was tired and that was actually why they had came upstairs in the first place.

Haley nodded her head and slipped out from under Nathan. "I'm just going to go brush my teeth." She announced as she grabbed her case of cosmetics and other necessities, like her toothbrush and some travel toothpaste.

Nathan took this opportunity to calm himself down as he changed out of his black dress pants that he was still wearing and into some loose fitting basketball shorts. He unbuttoned his button up shirt and pulled his white t-shirt over his head.

He couldn't believe all that had happened today. And he really couldn't believe that he had blurted out his feelings for Haley. He had been so scared of admitting how he was feeling not only because he had never felt like this before and barely knew anything about how he was feeling himself, but also because he had been afraid that Haley wouldn't feel the same way about him. When she had said that she loved him back he couldn't believe what he was feeling. At first he thought he was imaging things, but it was true. He was in love with Haley and she loved him back.

He left his room as he walked down the hall towards the bathroom. Haley gave him a small smile as she passed him, clutching her make-up bag to her chest.

Haley re-entered Nathan's bedroom. She mentally scolded herself for not being the one to stop her and Nathan because she was the one that wanted to wait. She decided to let it go and just be thankful that they had stopped. She could feel herself becoming closer to being ready and its kind of scared her a little bit.

She pulled back the covers of the bed and slipped and rolled over onto her side. A few minutes later she felt the bed shift as Nathan climbed in, laying flat on his back. Haley rolled over onto her stomach and rested her head on Nathan's bare chest. His arm automatically wrapped protectively around her waist. Her eyes fluttered closed as she felt Nathan place a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you." He whispered into the darkness. Haley smiled at his words. "I love you too." She whispered back before they each fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.


	19. Celebrations & Revelations

**First, thanks to all those who reviewed. Second, sort of Peyton promo again?! Third, I'm not sure how much longer this story will be so we'll see. But keep checking for my new story which I should be posting soon - after I post the last chapter of ABoaB (either later tonight or tomorrow - promise.)**

**Anyway, here's the next chaper. Enjoy. Please review.**

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She stood looking at her reflection through the mirror. Her usually long, curly locks were now straightened, her hair stopping at the middle of her back, with her bangs pinned up by some bobby pins. As usual, her make-up was light and natural looking just the way she liked it.

She reached up to tuck a stray piece hair behind her ear. A smile adorned her face as the silver bracelet dangling from her wrist caught her eye. The bracelet itself was a chain of interlocking circles linked together. A silver heart shaped charm dangled off one of the circles. It was simple yet elegant and engraved on the back of the heart read_ 'Always and Forever_'—something her and Nathan had recently began saying to each other. But the best thing about the bracelet was the fact that Nathan gave it to her. He had gotten it for her for Christmas and she loved it. She had been worried that it had cost too much, but every time she brought it up Nathan told her to stop worrying about it especially since she had gotten him tickets to a Charlotte Bobcats game and he loved it.

It had been six days since Christmas and today was New Year's Eve. Her, Nathan, Lucas, and Brooke were all going to a club called Tric—courtesy of Brooke's 'Perfect New Year's Eve Party Plan', or whatever it was that she called it. Haley simply nodded her head and went along with another one of Brooke's wacky plans—she didn't feel like being involved. According to Brooke, Tric was a really great club with major bands which was surprising due to Tree Hill being the small town that it was.

Haley was actually surprised that Brooke hadn't barged in hours ago, whisking Haley away to be Brooke's real life Barbie doll, giving her a make-over and picking out her clothes. Not that Haley was complaining that Brooke hadn't done so because Brooke's taste and Haley's taste weren't exactly the same thing.

Haley pursed her lips together as her eyes scanned the three pairs of shoes she had brought with her from Duke. None of them matched her outfit. This wasn't good. What was she supposed to do now? Quickly she made her way down the hallway, her bare feet stepping on the plush, white carpet.

Reaching the door she was looking for she tapped on it a couple of times. There was no way she was going on there without asking. Who knows what Brooke and Lucas were doing in there and when they were doing it.

"Come in." Haley heard Brooke's voice call out. Haley contemplated if she Brooke actually meant she could come in or if she was just saying so. Taking the risk, Haley opened the door and was thankful to see Brooke applying make-up with Lucas no where in sight.

"Hey Brookie." Haley greeted as she entered Lucas' room, closing the door behind her.

"Tutor-girl! You look hott!" Brooke exclaimed looking at her friend through the reflection in the mirror.

"Um, thanks." Haley replied as she took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"So, what can I do for you?" Brooke asked, spinning around to face her friend.

"I need shoes." Haley said stretching out her legs and wiggling her freshly painted toes.

"Then you've come to the right place, Tutor-girl." Brooke said. She walked over to a pile of about five suitcases.

"Brooke, please tell me that all of those suitcases aren't just yours."

"I needed to be prepared for all occasions." Brooke defended as she unzipped a suitcase that was filled with all different kinds of shoes.

Haley eyes widened. "You brought a suitcase full of only shoes?" She asked incredulously.

"Well if I didn't then I wouldn't have any shoes for you to wear tonight, would I? Take your pick, Tutor-girl."

"I might be here a while." Haley mumbled as she went over to sit down Indian style on floor and begin to dig through Brooke's suitcase of shoes.

Lucas sighed heavily from his spot on Nathan's bed. "Man, how much longer do you think that this is going to take?" He asked his brother as he looked at his watch for what felt like the millionth time in the last ten minutes. They had planned on leaving over a half an hour ago, but the girls weren't ready yet so Nathan and Lucas had been waiting around for them.

Nathan glanced over at the bright, green numbers on the clock. It was almost nine. So much for leaving the house at eight, he thought to himself. "Dude, I hope not much longer. This is taking forever." He muttered.

He was looking forward to a good New Year's Eve. Especially since his grandparents had left a couple of days ago and his parents were going to some party Dan was invited to from work in another town. His mom had miraculously convinced his father not force Lucas and him, and consequently Brooke and Haley, to go with them. Thank God. He did not want to spend the night with his parents and a bunch of old business people at some lame party. Especially after what happened at the Christmas Eve party they had went to last week.

"So, what do you think is taking them so long? When I went in there they were already dressed." Lucas spoke.

Nathan shook his head. "Don't know." He muttered. "NBA Live?" He asked. He was tired of sitting around doing nothing. He hated to sit still for too long without doing something. And he was getting bored out of his mind.

"Hey." Haley said as she walked into Nathan's room.

"Finally. What was taking so long?" Lucas asked curiously. He was so glad he wasn't a girl. He didn't think he would ever be able to use so much time just go out to a club. Too bad his girlfriend took years.

"I got tired of waiting for Brooke so I came in here." She said as she sat down in between Lucas and Nathan.

"Close your mouth, Nate. You're drooling." Lucas laughed, teasing his brother.

Haley could feel her cheeks turn pink as she noticed Nathan's intense gaze. "Stop it." She she said softly. She was getting easily embarrassed, which wasn't really a hard thing to do. Especially with the intense gaze Nathan was giving her right now.

"Sorry, you just look—"

"Come on, people. Let's go." Brooke's voice boomed into the room.

Haley laughed. "We were waiting for you." She stated as she got up and Nathan groaned.

"Well it's not my fault that the shoes I wanted to wear and the top I wanted to wear didn't match. So then I just decided on neither of those and restarted." She defended herself.

"Of course." Haley laughed acting as if she knew exactly what Brooke what was talking about as she linked arms with Brooke.

"Are you boys coming or not?" Brooke called as her and Haley continued on their way down the stairs.

Lucas and Nathan looked at each other baffled and completely confused. "What the hell?" Lucas said.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders in return. "Don't ask." He said leaving his room to catch up with the girls.

Haley sat on the bar stool as she sipped from the straw in her drink. She had been dancing with Brooke for awhile—because Nathan shook his head profusely refusing, saying that he didn't dance—and she had now just stopped for a break and got a drink while Brooke was doing, well whatever it was that Brooke was doing.

Her eyes darted around the club looking on from her seat to see if she could spot Nathan or Lucas. She hadn't seen either one of them since Brooke had dragged her to the dance floor. And that was a while ago.

"Looking for someone?" She felt hot breath tickle her ear.

She pursed her lips together. "No one special." She tried to reply casually before sipping more of her drink to keep her smile hidden.

"Really?" The person asked, a smirk forming on their face as they sat down on the bar stool next to her.

She spun around to face the person. "My other boyfriend might get jealous if he sees me talking to you." She smiled.

He looked around. "I don't see him here." They said pulling her closer.

"Me either. He's way cuter than you." She giggled at the shock written on the person's face. "It's okay though," She said placing one of her hands on his cheek. "I love you, not him." She compromised.

"You better." He mumbled before kissing her lips. She rested her hands on his broad shoulders and pulled herself closer to him. He placed a hand on her waist and the other rested on her cheek. She couldn't help but lean into his touch. His tongue ran across her lip begging for entrance to her mouth.

Haley pulled away and watched as his blue eyes opened and he groaned at the loss of contact with her lips. "Let's dance." She said answering his questioning gaze.

He shook his head. "No, Hales." He refused.

She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. "Please, Nathan."

He groaned. She knew that he couldn't say no to her when he gave her that face and she was using against him to her advantage. That was so unfair. Especially because he knew that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"This is not fair." He made sure to tell her as he stood up from the stool hand held out his hand for her to take.

Her smile lit up her face as she saw that he had given in and was going to dance with her. And he immediately knew that seeing her smile like that was worth a few minutes of dancing even though he really didn't want to—he just wasn't a good dancer, he couldn't help it.

"Thank you." She reached up to place a kiss on his cheek. Haley smiled at him and placed her small hand in his larger one and led him to a spot on the dance floor as an upbeat song began blasting throughout the club.

She turned around, her back against his chest. His hands went down to rest on her hips as they rocked back and forth rhythmically to the beat of the music. As the song continued Nathan pulled her closer to him. She continued to grind her hips into him, getting lost in the beat of the song.

Nathan growled. The feeling of Haley's hips grinding against his own was almost becoming unbearable. He pulled her closer if that was even possible. He began placing kisses on one side of her neck. She leaned her head back against his shoulder to give him more access to her neck. It felt like her skin was igniting with fire everywhere he touched her. The kisses that he was leaving along her neck was driving her crazy.

She couldn't take it any longer. She turned around in her arms to attach her lips to his. She pushed herself closer and could feel how badly he wanted her as the lower half of their bodies pressed against each other. Easily she slipped her tongue inside his mouth and softly moaned as their lips playfully darted around each other.

Haley pulled away breathlessly. "Dancing isn't so bad is it?" She leaned up to whisper into his ear.

Nathan shook his head no. He didn't trust that he would be able to talk. Everyday it was getting harder and harder to respect Haley and not rip her clothes off and take her right then and there. He had been trying his hardest, but lately she hadn't been making this any easier for him. he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out. But in the back of his mind he knew that he would wait forever until she was ready.

"There you guys are!" Brooke yelled over the loud music interrupting whatever would have happened next.

Haley took a step back away from Nathan and smiled at Brooke. "Where have you been?" She asked curiously. It had been a long time since she had last seen Brooke.

Brooke waved her hand dismissing the question. "Doesn't matter. What does matter is that there's only five more minutes until midnight." She said excitedly. "Come on." She said grabbing Haley's hand to lead her over to where her and Lucas had managed to snag a free table in the back. "You too, Boy Toy." She called over her shoulder to Nathan.

"Ten!" Everyone began shouting the countdown a few minutes later. "Nine...eight...seven..."

Nathan pulled Haley from her seat and onto his lap.

"Six...five...four..."

Haley gave her boyfriend a smile and began leaning closer to him.

"Three...two...one...Happy New Year!" Everyone in the club shouted together.

Nathan pulled Haley's face closer and captured her lips with his. Swiping his tongue over her lip, he begged for entrance to her mouth. She eagerly granted him access and their tongues battled each other's for dominance. She pulled away and rested her forehead against his for a second before moving her mouth over to his ear. "I'm ready. Let's get out of here." She whispered huskily and nipped lightly at his earlobe.

He pulled back to look at her. "What? Why?" He asked confused. New Year's just started, it didn't make any sense to leave already.

"We can go back to your house." She said. "Where we can be alone...by ourselves." She hinted some more when he didn't seem to know what she was getting at. She gnawed on her bottom lip nervously. "I'm ready, Nathan." She whispered into his ear, strongly stressing the word 'ready'.

She had come to the revelation earlier today while she was getting herself ready to come to Tric with her boyfriend and friends. When she had caught sight of her bracelet that Nathan had given her for about the third time and read the words on it over and over again she had known that she was ready. She wanted to take the next step with Nathan. She knew that she was completely, absolutely in love with him. And she knew that there was no else that she would rather give herself to for the first time.

Nathan pulled back a little to look her in the eyes, his own eyes slightly widened. "Are you...I mean are you sure?" He stuttered to get out. It just seemed to get about fifty degrees hotter. He watched her nibble on her bottom lip and slowly nod her head. He didn't want her to be doing this because she felt like she had to or he had somehow pressured her, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was positive and that she wanted this. His heart beat started highly increasing and it was becoming harder for him to breath. "Now?" He managed to choke out.

She nodded her head. He was acting really strange. She was actually kind of surprised. This wasn't exactly the reaction she had been expecting to get from him when she told him the news. She hesitated when she noticed that he was just sitting there. "Um, we don't...I mean we can...if you don't want to." She nervously stumbled over her words not being able to form coherent sentences. Now she was beginning to feel extremely embarrassed.

"No, that's not it. I'm just surprised that's all." He explained. Not to mention that he was extremely nervous. He knew this was a big deal for her and he didn't think that he deserved this. He wasn't good enough for her. He knew that. No one was. And that was what was worrying him the most—that she would regret it; regret him—being with him for her first time. He tried to push those thoughts to the back of his mind and not think about it. "Let's go." He said and watched her climb off his lap before grabbing her hand.

"Hey Luke." Nathan said to his brother who was currently still making out with his girlfriend. "Me and Hales are going to head out." He said, as Lucas only acknowledged him with a flick of the wrist.

Nathan gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles turning slightly white. He kept glancing over at his girlfriend every once in a while. He wasn't sure if he was more nervous or excited. Maybe the same amount of both. Months ago he would have laughed at himself for being nervous to have long-awaited sex with his girlfriend, but he couldn't help it. He wanted this to be special for her because it meant a lot to her. And the fact that she had chosen to give herself to him for her first time only made him even more nervous.

Meanwhile, Haley stared out the passenger seat window for he car. She wasn't regretting telling Nathan because she was ready—she really was and she wanted her first time to be with him. There was no one else that she could imagine in this with her. But she was freaking out on the inside. Mostly because according to his reaction inside the club, she wasn't really sure how Nathan felt about all of this.

They pulled up the huge, brick house and she took a deep breath. She noticed that even though Nathan had turned off the car, he wasn't moving. He hadn't even unbuckled his seat belt. She quirked an eyebrow at him and turned in her seat to face him. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Are you sure?" He asked again as he looked over at her.

She nodded her head. "Yes."

He shook his head. "No, I mean are sure about me?" He insecurely asked her. He surprised himself with his own words. He hadn't expected to ask her that. What happened to cocky, confident, player Nathan Scott who never would have bothered asking these kinds of questions. Answer; Haley James.

She tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean?" She asked confused. He was being so weird which was a little odd.

He looked forward as he spoke. "Are you sure you want it to be me?" He glanced over at her.

Haley smiled softly at her boyfriend. She climbed over to his seat and sat on his lap to place a soft kiss on his lips. "Of course." She said looking into his deep, blue eyes. "Why?"

Nathan took a deep breath. "I just don't want you to regret this—this with me, I mean. It should be special for you because it means a lot to you." He said honestly.

Haley felt her insides melting like goo at his words. He was so sweet. "I won't. And it is special—we're special." She assured him. She was surprised to hear that that was how he felt. She loved how concerned he was for her.

God, how he lover her. She was amazing. He couldn't have asked for anyone better. There was no one better. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky to find her and have her be his.

She pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt and attached her lips to his. She couldn't get enough of him—and his kisses. It was incredible—he was incredible. And she was incredibly lucky to have him. "You know what they say; the way you bring in the New Year is how you spend the rest of your year." She mumbled against his lips, surprising herself with her own innuendo.


	20. 23

**Okay so I'm still having a bit of trouble with my computer and was fortunately able to get this uploaded on another one. I am extremely sorry for the long wait, but I'm working on getting things fixed as soon as possible---which is also why I haven't posted my new story yet either. **

**Anyway I hope you all like this chapter. Please review. **

* * *

He squinted his eyes shut and yawned before opening them again and becoming more fully awake. A smile immediately appeared on his face as he saw the beautiful girl that was lying right beside him with her back pressed up firmly against his chest. Her soft, honey blonde waves flowed over one of her shoulders. Her legs were entangled with his own and the comforter of the bed was tucked underneath her arm, exposing the soft, creamy skin of her shoulders and upper back. 

He lifted his head to rest against the palm of his hand. He tried to refrain himself from reaching out and touching her so that he wouldn't wake her from her peaceful sleep. But the longer that he lay there staring at her, the more his fingers itched to touch her skin. It finally got to the point where he couldn't contain himself any longer. He leaned his head down and started pressing feather light kisses against the bare skin of her exposed shoulder.

He smiled against her skin as he felt her push herself closer to him. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him if that was even a possibility. She let a soft moan escape her mouth as he began to suck on her skin. She instantly turned around in his arms, disentangling her legs and other limbs from his.

"Hi." She said softly with a small smile when she came face to face with him.

"Hi." He said back at her, smiling at the sight of his beautiful girlfriend. Her natural beauty amazed him all of the time. It was like she was completely oblivious of how beautiful she truly was and that made her even more gorgeous in his eyes. "How are you feeling?" He asked concerned. Even after she had assured him and reassured him plenty of times that she wanted it to be him the night before, he had still been slightly afraid that she would maybe regret it later. That was the last thing that he wanted for her.

She smiled softly and placed one of her small hands on his cheek. "Good." She answered honestly, while looking into his striking blue eyes. She didn't regret the night before for a second. And she knew that no matter what happened she never would. "Stop worrying." She told him. "I don't have any regrets." She knew that he had been worried that she wasn't actually sure or really ready yet or that he had somehow pressured her into it. She loved how concerned he was for her, but she hated how he seemed to think that he wasn't good enough for her. Because he was and she couldn't picture anyone else being better for her.

Nathan nodded his head. He was relieved to hear, once again, that she didn't regret anything that had happened between the two of them. That had probably been his biggest worry. "Good." He said as he pulled her as close to him as physically possible. He breathed in her intoxicating scent as he pressed a soft kiss on the top of her head which was resting contently on his exposed chest.

Haley softly smiled to herself as she continued to lightly trace circular shapes on his chest with her fingers. She loved being like this with him. And if it was up to her, she always would be.

X

It had been a couple of weeks since she had been in Tree Hill with Nathan. Winter break was officially over with classes just beginning to start up again and everyone getting back into their own personal routines.

Haley tapped her pencil against the textbook in front of her and she chewed on her lower lip while she mentally calculated the correct answer to the math problem that she was currently working on. After quickly figuring out the answer to the problem her eyes began to drift around her dorm room. Peyton was sitting across from her on her own bed, drawing in one of her sketchbooks. Peyton was an incredibly talented artist, even if some of her artwork was sometimes—okay, a lot of the times—dark and maybe a little disturbed.

Haley tried to focus back on the work that was sitting in front of her, but her mind continued drifting off. She eventually found herself beginning to think about Nathan. She hadn't seen him since the very beginning of the week and it was already now Friday. Earlier during the week, the Duke Basketball team had boarded their bus and made their way up to Virginia for their game against the Cavaliers. They had left a few days earlier to make sure that they would be able to have enough time to get in some good practices and then get a good night's sleep in before the game—as opposed to sleeping on the bus and then having to play almost immediately after. 

Haley had been able to catch a good portion of the game on TV, but definitely not without Brooke complaining the entire time that it was boring and then Peyton telling Brooke to suck it up and be quiet especially considering her boyfriend was also on the team. Haley didn't really know anything about basketball, but she did know enough about numbers and scores to know that Duke had ended up winning with a final score of 84-72. She liked to believe that it was all because of her athletic and amazingly talented boyfriend.

It hadn't even been that long really since she had seen him, but the fact of the matter is that she was missing him like crazy. It kind of scared her how much she missed him; how much she was in love with him. She knew her feelings for him were only increasing more as each day went by. She had initially been afraid to jump into a relationship with him—or anyone really after her previous, disastrous "relationship." She kept trying to tell herself not to get too dependent on Nathan because she didn't want it to hurt as bad if anything ever did happen. Even though she already knew that this relationship she had with Nathan was nothing like her crappy so-called relationship with that stupid ass, Damien. But it didn't really matter because it was too late anyway. She was already dependent on him—her moping this past week proved it. Not only that, but she was completely head over heels in love with him. She was in deep Very deep. However, knowing all of this didn't draw away from the fact that she was missing him terribly. He had briefly mentioned that he would be back before the end of the week—she just wasn't sure if that meant Friday or Sunday and it was only driving her more insane.

"Hey, I'm gonna head over to Jake's. Want to come with?" Peyton asked suddenly, interrupting Haley from her thoughts, as she flipped her sketchbook shut and gripped it firmly in one of her hands.

Haley contemplated this option in her had quickly before shaking her head in response. "No thanks. I think I'm gonna pass." She answered. "Besides, I still have to get this done." She added and motioned to the books that were still sitting on her bed in front of her. "Thanks anyway." She said and offered a small smile to her friend.

Peyton shrugged. "Okay, see you later then." She said before grabbing her signature leather jacket and making her way out of their dorm room.

The new semester had just started back up again a couple of weeks ago meaning that Peyton's so-called 'friend', Jake, was officially enrolled as a student at the University of North Carolina. From their dorm room it would only take Peyton about maybe an hour and a half, give or take some time depending on traffic and other things, to get to Jake's new, off campus apartment. Jake had made the arrangements and was luckily able to move in during the break, becoming completely ready for classes by the time they started up again. Seeing how it was Friday, there wasn't really any reason for her to rush to get back to campus.

Her schoolwork was actually only part of the reason that Haley had declined Peyton's invitation to tag along. Haley wanted to give Peyton some alone time with Jake and Jenny. Haley knew that Peyton didn't really get to see them very often —something that would probably be changing now that Jake wasn't all the way up in New York anymore. Besides, Haley wasn't sure if Peyton had already confessed her real feelings to Jake or not and if she didn't Haley didn't want to be the reason she didn't now or risk Peyton saying something and her just sitting there awkwardly while they chatted about it.

The only con about skipping out on going with Peyton to UNC was that now she had even less distractions to keep her mind from wandering to thoughts about her own currently out of town boyfriend. A pout formed on her face as she once again realized that he wasn't back yet and she hadn't seen him for pretty much the entire week. This had actually been the longest they had been apart since they had begun dating. It would have been longer if she hadn't ended up going to Tree Hill with Nathan over the break

X

Later that day, Haley laughed out loud, not being able to contain it any longer as Brooke rambled on about not getting the shirt she wanted when she had went to the mall earlier that day. Apparently, it was a very big deal because there was an amazing sale and there was only one left in her size, but some other 'bitch', in Brooke's words, had taken it when it was 'practically' in Brooke's hands.

Brooke placed her hands on her hips and stopped walking. "Tutor-girl! This is not funny. It is very serious." She spoke sternly.

Haley looked over her shoulder and saw that Brooke had stopped walking beside her. They were on their way back to her dorm from the little café where they had just gone to go get some coffee. Haley shook her head. "Sorry?" She half-asked while trying to contain the laughter that was bubbling and threatening to burst out at any minute at the look of complete seriousness on her friend's face. It wasn't a big deal, but she knew she would be a dead girl if she ever dared to voice that to Brooke, which was exactly why she was keeping her mouth shut—at least she was trying to. She kind of preferred being alive.

"You're forgiven." Brooke said happily as she skipped to catch up with Haley. "This time." She warned and pointed her finger at her friend.

Haley put a hand over her heart. "Oh thank God. I don't know what I would do if you didn't forgive me over this." She said sarcastically.

Brooke snapped her head over to look at Haley. "Tutor-girl." She pretended to warn her friend with a stern look on her face.

Haley playfully rolled her eyes. "Just go." She groaned as she gave Brooke a small push in the right direction on her dorm building.

X

Brooke sat comfortably on Haley's bed as she casually flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine. Next to her Haley was finishing up some homework that she had put off earlier mostly due to her wandering mind. "Which one of these do you think would look better on me?" Brooks questioned before shoving the magazine onto Haley's lap and pointing to the two items she had been eyeing.

"Um, this one." Haley randomly pointed to an item on the page with the tip of her pencil.

"That's not even one of the choices." Brooke pouted.

Haley sighed. "Brooke, I don't know. I don't really have—"

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Haley glanced at Brooke and furrowed her brows. Brooke shrugged her shoulders. "Don't look at me, it's your dorm."

Haley closed her books and began walking over to the door. "I don't know who this could be." She mumbled to herself as she reached out to pull the door open. "Oh. My. God!" She squealed happily, a big smile appearing on her face immediately. There standing in the middle of the hallway was Nathan; her Nathan! She ran the couple steps it took to get to him and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he easily caught her petite body. He spun her around once before she grabbed the back of his head, underneath his Duke hat, in both of her hands and pulled his head closer to hers, kissing him passionately on the lips.

"And that's my cue to leave." Brook announced mostly to herself, glancing up from the magazine and seeing the couple still lip-locked.

Haley pulled away from Nathan breathlessly and rested her forehead against his. "I missed you." She whispered quietly before smacking a quick kiss on his lips not being able to resist. After all she had been deprived of him of him and his lips for a week. Gosh, that sounded bad even to her own ears as she thought about how short a week really was. God, she was pathetic.

"I missed you too." He replied honestly with a smile on his face as he placed her back down on the ground.

She couldn't keep the silly smile off her face. She had not been expecting him to be back yet. This was the best surprise ever. She had missed him so much. It was so great to be able to see him and touch him instead of just barely talking to him over the phone whenever the both of them got the chance. That sucked.

"So, Boytoy, since you're here I'm assuming Broody is in your room?" She asked hopefully. Haley hadn't been the only one missing her boyfriend for the past week.

Nathan hardly nodded. "Yeah." He said grateful that Brooke was leaving so that he could spend some time with his girlfriend. He had missed her so much while he was gone. And it had only been a week. Five measly days. That was it, but nevertheless he had missed her all the same. It sounded crazy to him that he would ever miss someone that much. It had never been like this with anyone else before. And the ache that was stuck in his heart while he wasn't with her was definitely proof if nothing else that Haley was completely different and Nathan was becoming more in love with her than ever. He had never loved someone as much as he did Haley and apparently it was having a greater affect on him than he would have ever thought. There was no way that he would have ever expected to miss someone as much as he had missed Haley over the past week. It shocked him and surprisingly only intensified his feelings for her. She was amazing and he knew that he was extremely lucky to have her.

Brooke waved her hand in the air on her way out as she walked passed the couple that were completely enthralled with each other. She didn't' even bother saying anything because she highly doubted that either of them would have noticed if she did anyway. They were too caught up in each other to notice anything else.

"So are we gonna go inside anytime soon or are we going to stand out here all day?" Nathan joked as he realized that they hadn't moved since he had arrived. To anyone else they probably looked like idiots standing out there in the middle of the hallway.

Haley shook her head, bringing herself back to her senses. Smiling she grabbed Nathan's larger hand in her smaller one and gave it a tug letting him know that she wanted him to follow her into her dorm.

Nathan shut the door behind him and surveyed the room noticing that nothing had changed, not that he had expected it to, but you never knew when Peyton was your roommate. "Where's Peyton?" He asked as she noticed she wasn't there and sat down on Haley's bed as he watched her close her books before placing them in her bag on the floor.

"Remember the guy, Jake I told you about?" She asked as she crawled over to sit next to him.

"Yeah." He answered and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"He just transferred to UNC over break and Peyton drove up there to see him. She actually asked me to go with her, but now I'm pretty glad that I stayed or else I would have missed my boyfriend coming back from his basketball trip." She smiled up at him looking into his eyes. Oh how she missed those pretty, blue eyes. "You played great." She complimented offhandedly.

"You watched the game?" He asked surprised. He knew that she didn't like sports that much, let alone care to watch them when he didn't put it on against her protests. So he was would be surprised if she had actually watched the game voluntary.

She nodded her head. "I caught most of it when Brooke wasn't complaining that it was boring and trying to wrestle the remote control away from me." She laughed as the memory of Brooke attacking her for the remote flashed through her mind quickly.

"You don't even like basketball." He stated obviously.

She shook her head. "Not really." She agreed. "But I like watching you play and shoot your free hoops."

Nathan couldn't hold back the laughter that escaped his mouth. "Throws, Baby. They're called free throws, not hoops." He corrected her—which was odd considering that she was usually the one that was correcting him, she was called 'Tutor-girl' after all.

Haley playfully rolled her eyes and dismissed her mistake with a wave of her hand. "Whatever."

Nathan just shook his head and continued laughing. She was definitely one of a kind. And she was his. Only his.

"So tell me, how much did you miss me while you were away." She asked and sent Nathan a cheeky smile.

"Hmm…" He pretended to think about his answer. "How about I show you instead?" He suggested huskily. His smirk coming into play on his gorgeous face as he inched it closer to her face.

"I guess you could do that." She barely managed to get out before he had dipped his head down and attacked her lips with his own. She moaned softly at the contact. This had definitely been something that she had miss while he was away with his basketball team.

Nathan nudged her back onto the bed with his free hand. Without removing his lips from hers, he continued to lay them down.

The obnoxiously loud ringing of a cell phone reverberated through the room interrupting the preoccupied couple.

Haley giggled against Nathan's lips as he frustratedly groaned out loud, hating whoever it was that interrupted them.

"It's mine." Haley said knowingly.

"Leave it." Nathan insisted while trying to push Haley back down as she began to squirm to get out of his grip.

She laughed and ducked her head under his arm, dodging him. Nathan groaned as he rolled over lying on his back.

Haley crawled over to the bottom of the bed and reached over the edge to grab her cell phone from her bag.

Nathan's eyes widened as he watched Haley reach for her phone making her shirt ride up exposing the lower portion of her back.

There sitting on the small of her back right above the waistline of her jeans was a tattoo. Not just any tattoo though—it was a small, dark blue number 23. 23! That was his number. And it was permanently marked on her body—forever!

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Nathan swallowed hard. His mouth was becoming extremely dry. He rapidly blinked a couple times to be sure he was seeing this correctly.

He had only been gone a week. And within that week his girlfriend had gotten his jersey number tattooed on her body. Right above her ass actually.

Haley shut her phone and turned back to Nathan. She made her way back over to sit next to his lying figure. "It was only a text from Peyton. She's staying at Jake's. For the whole weekend." She informed him.

Nathan barely nodded his head. It was all he could do. He didn't' trust that he could speak or form words at all.

"What?" Haley asked with a questioning gaze. He was acting weird. Definitely not like before she had received that text from Peyton—which was actually kind of ironic.

He shook his head. "Um, it's uh nothing." He managed to get out—his mind still in over-drive.

"What's wrong? Why are acting weird?" She asked now becoming concerned.

"No, it's um, just when you—well you kind of —I mean—"He stuttered before Haley interrupted him.

"Nathan? What are you trying to say?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. He usually always had something to say. Always. What was going on with him? And in the time span of about two minutes?

"23." He said simply.

Haley crinkled her face in confusion. "23?" She asked out loud. Realization began to set in and things started becoming clearer. "Oh, 23." She mumbled to herself under her breath.

Of course that was why he was acting so weird. She didn't know why she didn't think of that before.

"So I guess you saw, huh?" Haley laughed nervously before biting on her bottom lip. She didn't know what he was going to think about this.

Nathan nodded. "When?"

"Uh, two days after you left."

"Why?"

_"Come on, let's go out and do something fun." Brooke suggested. _

_Haley shrugged. "Like what?" _

_"I don't know. Something wild and crazy/" _

_"Brooke." Haley warned. It wasn't usually good when Brooke thought of crazy and wild ideas. Especially when Haley was alone with her and had no one to help her talk Brooke out of doing those things. Brooke could be very persuasive. _

_"What?" Brooke shrugged innocently, but her eyes gleamed mischievously. "The boys are gone and Peyton's currently M.I.A. We need to go have some fun." _

_"The boys are away for basketball and Peyton is….okay so Peyton is missing." _

_Three hours later: _

_Brooke and Haley giggled continuously as they skipped down the street together. It was obvious Brooke had gotten Haley to go out. _

_A blinking green neon sign caught Brooke's eye. She smiled at Haley. "I've got an idea." She sing-songed. _

_"What, Brookie?" _

_Brooke pointed to the sign and raised her eyebrows. _

_Haley looked over and saw what her friend was looking at. Haley laughed out loud. "I may have a little bit to drink, but I'm not delusional Brookie." _

_Brooke pouted. "Please, Haley. Pleeeease!" She cried. _

_Twenty minutes later and Haley was clenching her eyes shut trying to keep breathing. She couldn't believe she was doing this. _

_"You're all done." A big man with a bandana on his head said. "Next." He called out. _

_"Done?" Brooke asked as she skipped in from behind a curtain. _

_Haley nodded. "Uh huh. You?" _

_"Yupp. This was so much fun." Brooke said clasping her hands together. "So what'd you get?" She asked excitedly. _

_Haley bit her lip. "A 23." _

"That's why you got a tattoo." Nathan said. "But not why you got 23. Why did you get my jersey number?"

"Oh, well…I guess that I just realized that I was completely head over heels in love with you and even if we don't last forever, if I can look back at this tattoo in ten years from now and remember this feeling—I'll be okay with that." Haley explained.

Nathan leaned over and captured her lips in a gentle, but passionate kiss. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"So do you uh, do you like it?" She asked timidly.

"Do I like it?"

She nodded her head and bit her lip as she awaited her response.

"I love it." He whispered huskily. "It's so sexy." He added.

Haley smiled coyly. "Really?"

"Yeah—remind me to thank Brooke later. After the weekend's over.

"After the weekend? Why then?" Haley asked.

"Because Peyton's not coming back until then, so I don't really plan on leaving." He said smirking before swooping down to catch her lips with his again.


	21. Party Time

**AN: Wow. I am so sorry that I left this story unfinished. I feel bad for any readers that tried to keep up with it. I know it's been a few years. Truth is I had computer problems and then I eventually lost interest for awhile after that. But I'm ready to finish this story if anyone still wants to read it. Please review if you do read it :) And again I apologize to the loyal readers!**

* * *

Haley sighed closing the open textbook on top of her desk before finally deciding that she had covered everything necessary. It was now time to move onto the next book that was awaiting her attention. As the weeks wore on, everyone had seemed to be falling into their own routines and for Haley specifically that meant that she had been so wrapped up in her school work lately that she felt she barely had time for anything else these days.

Brooke had been hounding her for almost the last two weeks to take a break from hitting the books, claiming that Haley needed to squeeze in some quality best friend time. She knew that soon enough Brooke would surely be personally hunting her down within the next few days instead of the constant text messages she had be receiving recently.

As if on cue, there was suddenly a loud banging at her door. "HALEY! I know you're in there!" She was almost positive that her entire hall could hear her best friend's voice yelling at her. "Open up right now, Tutor-girl! Or else!"

Haley laughed as she opened the door wide allowing Brooke entrance into her dorm. "Well, hi to you too Brookie."

Brooke rolled her eyes as she flopped herself upon Haley's bed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." She dismissed with the flick of her hand. "In case you haven't noticed I'm not so happy with you at this exact moment missy!"

"And why is bitch being a Brooke?" She asked smiling at her friend's oh so dramatic antics.

Brooke huffed. Clearly Haley wasn't taking her very seriously. "Haaaaa-leyyy! I miss my friend." She pouted. "You're always so busy with studying lately that you have no time for you bestest friend anymore."

"Brooke, it's only because mid-terms are rapidly approaching. You know I love ya." Haley explained.

This caused a quick smile to appear on her friend's face. "Well, duhhh. But, none of us have all went out and just had fun in a long time. Since I'm the only one who seems to care about that, I decided that tonight, it's party time. No excuses, Tutor-girl!" She added and pointed her finger at Haley when she saw the other girl was about to make some kind of protest.

Brooke had finally had enough of this everyone in their group focusing on their own thing, thing. So here she was, currently rounding the troops and forcing everyone to take a break from whatever it was that had been keeping them all so busy lately. They hadn't all hung out together as a group for a few weeks now and she knew it was only going to get more difficult to get that to happen with their spring semester mid-terms taking place in another week or so.

Knowing there was no way she was getting out of this one, Haley sighed and relented to her friend. She guessed that one night away from studying would be okay. Besides, Brooke was right, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen everyone altogether. As a matter of fact, she had barely seen any of her friends that much at all recently. In her defense she was just trying her hardest to prepare for her upcoming exams. Her nickname was Tutor-girl for a reason after all. She had always been that way, even when she was a little girl and used to love playing pretend SATs. Besides her grades being extremely important to her, she also couldn't just forget that she was on an academic scholarship, hence why her nose had been stuck in her texts more than usual.

Squealing as Haley had agreed to go out tonight, Brooke shot up off the bed and hugged her. "Ahhh, I'm so happy you agreed! Everyone else already said yes. You were my last stop. Mainly because I thought you would have given me the most trouble about being away from your precious books." She teased her friend.

"Ha ha." Haley dead-panned. "Now go before I change my mind."

"I have to go pick out my outfit anyway. I'll see you later!" Brooke said excitedly, while smacking Haley's butt on her way out of the room.

Haley shook her head while laughing. One thing was for sure, her best friend was insane.

* * *

As she walked across campus to meet up with her friends, Haley thought to herself about how Brooke was right and that truth be told, tonight was a good thing. Everyone's schedules had been so hectic lately and she knew they needed this, well at least she knew that she did. A little break would do her some good. Despite living with the girl, she had barely even seen Peyton lately, let alone Brooke or Lucas. Then there was Nathan. Basketball had been keeping that boy so busy these days. Furthermore, there was each of them having classes, studying for exams, and her tutoring sessions. They barely had any time for each other and she hated it. If Haley was being honest with herself, she really couldn't wait to just go out and have a good time with everyone.

Once she was close enough to the assigned spot she was ordered to meet everyone at, she noticed she was the last one there.

"Well, well Tutor-girl, how nice of you to finally show up." Brooke greeted as she saw Haley approaching the rest of them.

Checking the time on her cell phone Haley saw that she was in fact about fifteen minutes late. "Sorry guys."

"And here I thought we would all be waiting hours for Brooke over here." Lucas nodded in his girlfriend's direction, receiving a small smack on the arm from her for that comment, which caused the small group to laugh.

"You hush!" Brooke demanded, poking Lucas in the chest. "Okay, let's go party people!" She declared, while grabbing her boyfriend's hand and leading the way. Luckily for them, the party was right off campus so no one really deemed it necessary to drive.

Taking the interaction of her friends, she realized that she had missed this, being with her friends like this that is. Tonight was going to be a good night, Haley thought as she reached Nathan who was trailing a few steps behind everyone so she could catch up to him. "Hey." She acknowledged him before reaching up and placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"Hey you." He casually slung an arm over her shoulders as they continued to follow Brooke's lead. "Long time, no see."

Haley sighed. "I know. I miss you."

"Me too. Basketball has been kicking my ass. Playoffs are coming up and Coach K. isn't holding back on us one bit."

"Sorry, baby. Let's just have fun tonight then." She smiled up at him.

"You bet." His signature smirk making it's way onto his handsome face.

* * *

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" The loud cheering could be heard by all. The party was definitely in full swing. Haley and Peyton threw her heads back in laughter and high-fived each other as Brooke had just downed her drink, beating the third or maybe fourth boy in a row to challenge her. The girl sure could hold her own. Sticking their hands out, Haley and Peyton awaited the placement of the money from the friends of the boy who had just lost, who they moments ago had bet twenty dollars each that Brooke would out-drink him.

Brooke slammed her cup on the countertop and threw her hands in the air claiming yet another victory. "Any more takers?" She called out, daring anyone to try to compete with her.

None of them really knew how many drinks deep Brooke currently was. They had certainly lost count. Sure, Haley and Peyton had each a few drinks themselves, but they were nowhere near close to being at Brooke's level.

At this point, the small group of friends had been there for about a few hours now. Of course, Brooke had taken over the life of the party role as soon as they walked through the door. Apart from Nathan that was. The girls and even guys were flocking to him the moment he had arrived. Haley recalled suppressing an eye-roll at thinking of how pathetic it was that just because someone was capable of putting a ball through a hoop that it meant you received royal treatment.

It didn't stop there though. This time, she didn't hold back from rolling her eyes at seeing all the sluts that didn't even wait a whole five minutes of him being there to begin throwing themselves at him. All the while she was still holding his hand, might she add. Needless to say, it had slightly pissed her off. It wasn't that she hadn't ever seen girls eyeing up her boyfriend before, but she noticed that the more and more the Duke Blue Devils continued to win, the more and more pathetic the sluts got. It was a fact, Haley had decided. Therefore, with playoffs around the corner, they were worse than ever before.

Everyone always tried to tell her that it was all just part of the territory that came with dating the star basketball player, but Haley didn't care what he was the star of, he was taken. These girls needed to learn how to take a hint. Don't get her wrong, Haley admired how amazing and dedicated Nathan was to the game, but sometimes, in situations like these, she couldn't help but wish he was just Nathan, a regular guy that attended Duke University.

As her thoughts drifted to her boyfriend she realized that she had spent almost the entire time with the girls so far and she was missing him. The girls had quickly opted for ditching the Scott boys once they had stopped to talk to some of Nathan's teammates about none other than basketball. How surprising.

Finishing up the rest of her drink, Haley stood up from the stool she was sitting on. "If you ladies will excuse me, I'm going to go see if I can find my boyfriend now." She declared, even though she was pretty sure that her friends were too enthralled with planning out the next game they wanted to partake in.

Entering the next room she could easily spot Nathan right where she had remember leaving him. She started shoving her way through the crowd in order to make it over to the group he was engaging with.

"Haley!" Lucas shouted over the loud music and voices of everyone around him when he spotted her. "Where's Brooke?" He asked, still in a yell.

"Kitchen." She answered. Lucas began saying something else, she knew because she saw his lips moving, but she couldn't bring herself to keep focus on the words that were coming out of his mouth. Her attention was being directed more on what was behind him where Nathan was standing. Some girl was evidently trying her hardest to be all over him and in that instant Haley was feeling unable to control the pangs of jealousy that were creeping up inside her.

In a flash, Lucas had disappeared leaving Haley to face her boyfriend and the red-head that was shamelessly flirting with him. "Ahem." She cleared her throat, grabbing his attention.

"Halesss." Nathan smiled her way once he finally noticed her standing there.

She noticed he must have had a few drinks himself as he somewhat slurred the end of her name. Not that that was surprising to her. He had been known to be a big partier. "Hi." She responded shortly. "And you are?" Haley said, directing her attention towards the unknown girl. She wasn't too thrilled with this girl being here. Especially since she already getting bad vibes from her.

"Rachel." The girl said barely glancing in Haley's direction like she wasn't even standing there.

"Right...I'm Haley, Nathan's _girlfriend_." She made sure to put an emphasis on her last word.

"Not for long." Rachel mumbled under her breath just loud enough for only Haley to hear.

Haley's eyes immediately widened at this. Was this girl serious? "Excuse me, what did you say?" She must have heard her incorrectly.

"Nothing, Holly." Rachel smiled sweetly at her.

"It's Ha-ley." She corrected her while pronunciating her name syllable by syllable to make it easier for this girl to understand. It wasn't that difficult and Haley was pretty sure that she was calling her 'Holly' on purpose.

"Nath-" Haley started, but found herself immediately being cut off by Rachel's obnoxiously loud and squeaky voice.

"So, Nathan, what we're you just saying about the team winning the championships?" Rachel pretended to be truly interested, while flipping her long red locks of hair in Haley's direction. Just like she had wanted it captured Nathan's drunken attention and allowed for him not to even notice Haley was about to speak since the guys cheered loudly at Rachel's mention of being the champions.

Haley was literally seeing red now. She couldn't believe this girl. Just who did she think was? Nathan was _her_ boyfriend and here was this girl pushing her out of the way! He wasn't even doing anything about it either.

After two more unsuccessful attempts at grabbing Nathan's attention, Haley huffed off back towards where she had last seen Brooke and Peyton. There was no way she was just going to stand there and continue to be ignored. She wasn't putting up with that. Besides, she couldn't stand being around that skank anymore either.

"Uh-oh, what's that look about?" Peyton questioned once she saw a very pissed off Haley come into view.

"One word: Rach-ho." She gritted out.

"What?" Peyton asked, now amused.

"Some whore is all over Nathan in there!" Haley exclaimed while pointing in the direction she had just came from.

Peyton laughed, but immediately stopped when she saw the glare Haley was sending her way. "Sorry Hales, but seeing you so flustered about it was just a little funny." She said showing using her thumb and index finger to demonstrate how much. It was obvious to Haley that Peyton and Brooke had kept up the drinking after she left them and now they were even giddier than ever.

"Ooh Haley! You should totally come back to my room to mine and Peyton's sleepover!" Brooke squealed when she saw her friend, oblivious to her current state of frustration.

Haley shook her head. "No thanks, Brookie. Actually, I think I'm going to head out now anyway." This wasn't fun. Not anymore. All she wanted to do at this point was get back to her room and go to sleep.

After eventually convincing Brooke to let her leave and saying her goodbyes to her friends Haley was making her way through the crowds once again. As she neared the door she felt someone slam into her. She knew it was crowded, but was that really necessary? "Ouch!" She yelled. Looking to her left she saw Rachel sneering at her. I should have known,Haley thought to herself.

"Oh I'm sorry...Holly was it?" Rachel feigned innocence.

Haley glared at the girl. "You did that on purpose." She accused. "And it's Haley!" As if she doesn't remember, Haley thought.

"Oops, my bad. You know, I'm not sure what Nathan sees in you really."

This only caused Haley's eyes to narrow even more. "What is _that _supposed to mean?"

"Well, I used to be a fat chick with a little head too." Rachel snickered at Haley's facial expression. "See you later, Holly. We wouldn't want to keep Nathan waiting for me, now would we?" She winked and made her back through the crowds of people before Haley could even get another word out.

* * *

Haley's eyed snapped open as she thought she heard a noise. Just when she was about to close her eyes she heard it again. She froze in place from her spot on her bed as she heard someone turning the handle on the door of her dorm. Since Peyton was staying with Brooke tonight it couldn't be her. A sigh of relief escaped her once the door flung open and she saw that it was only Nathan. That was until she remember that she was pissed at him due to the earlier events of that night.

Glancing at the clock she took notice that it was a little after three in the morning. "Nathan? What are you doing?" She asked still in shock. "How did you get in?"

"Peyton's key." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world as he kicked off his shoes and made his way over to her bed.

"Still, what are you doing here, Nathan?"

"I want to see you." He reached out and touched her face almost as if he was making sure she was real.

She rolled her eyes and removed his hand. "It's 3am."

Nathan ignored her and moved his body over to sloppily kiss her. As he went to climb on top of her, Haley immediately pushed him away. "Stop it, Nathan."

A confused look appeared on his face before he attempted to do the same thing once again."What, you couldn't find Rach-ho's room?" She accused, pushing him away for a second time.

His eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "Huh?"

"Nothing." She dismissed. She knew that now wasn't the time to talk about what happened with Rachel tonight.

Believing her, Nathan went in for a kiss again. "You don't love me?" He questioned, looking hurt when she continued to deny him.

She couldn't help rolling her eyes again at his behavior. "Of course I do." She answered softly. There was never a time she would ever want him to think that she didn't love him. That wasn't the case at all. If he wasn't drunk right now then maybe he would get that.

"Then what's the problem?" He didn't get it. Why didn't his girlfriend want him? It didn't make any sense to him.

She sighed. "You're drunk."

"No, look, I'm okay." He insisted, holding out his arms to show he was physically okay.

"Like I said, you've been drinking. Look, I'm going to go back to sleep and I suggest that you do the same." She advised him. "Nathan?" She questioned when all she was met with was silence.

Seeing that he had indeed already passed out next to her, she felt a small amount of relief at not having to continue putting up with him when he had no clue she was pissed off. How could he not know? It infuriated her that he seemed to be so clueless.

She shut her eyes deciding to fall back asleep for now. Everything else would have to wait until the morning came. All she knew was that she was not looking forward to tomorrow, that was for sure.


	22. Recollections

**Hi everyone. I just want to say thanks to those who did review. I didn't get many for the amount of views that the chapter received. I would love your feedback please!**

* * *

The sound of laughter filled the air, which caused her eyes to flutter open. She groaned and immediately cringed at the sunlight that was currently streaming in through the window. She placed one of her hands on her forehead as she slowly sat up. Her head felt like it was ready to explode. Without a doubt, she was definitely feeling the effects from the night before.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

Brooke looked across the room to see Haley and Peyton staring back at her with amused smiles upon their faces.

"Aspirin?" Peyton offered the little pills in the palm of her hand and a glass of water in the other.

Brooke eagerly accepted Peyton's offering. It was just what the doctor ordered. Although, she prayed it would have effects on her throbbing headache sooner rather than later.

"How ya feeling?" Haley questioned. She was positive that Brooke had to be hurting after all the drinking she had done.

"I don't want to talk about it." Brooke grouched. "What are you doing here anyway?" She could have sworn that Haley didn't come back to her room with them last night. Briefly looking at the clock, she noticed it was only eight in the morning and shuddered at the thought of it still being so early. Haley always was an early riser though, Brooke remembered.

"Nathan and Haley are fighting." Peyton answered for her roommate.

"We're not fighting...we're just not talking right now." Haley corrected.

"That's fighting." Brooke pointed out. "What happened?" Now she was intrigued.

"Nathan has a hoe." Peyton butted in again.

"_What_?" Brooke screeched, but instantly regretted it as she felt her head pound a little harder afterwards.

"He does not! Okay, well he kind of does. Some skank named Rachel was all over him at the party last night and he wasn't even noticing me! Then we got into an argument about it this morning." Haley briefly explained.

Brooke shook her head. "Did you say Rachel? As in Rachel Gatina? As in man-stealing, skank of the school, red-headed slut Rachel?"

Haley rolled her eyes. She hated that girl. "That would be her."

"She's had her eye on Nathan since the first semester or freshman year." Brooke added.

"Great!" Sarcasm laced Haley's voice as she spoke.

"Tell us everything." Brooke demanded.

After recalling everything that went down at the party, Haley continued to tell the girls about how Nathan came stumbling into her dorm in the middle of the night. She made sure to sarcastically thank Peyton for giving him her key. In return, Peyton apologized, but then defended herself saying she didn't know, which Haley knew was true since at the time no one knew. Then Haley concentrated her mind on what happened only a couple of hours ago when she had woken up this morning.

_An alarm blaring through the room jolted her out of her sleep. Where was it coming from though, she wondered, knowing that wasn't the sound her clock typically woke her up with. Seeing Nathan's cell phone lighting up on top of her nightstand she instantly realized that's where the noise was coming from. Haley reached over to pick up the phone and swipe the alarm to off. She read the words 'BASKETBALL PRACTICE" blinking across the screen._

_Haley got out of bed and began shaking Nathan. Just because she was pissed at him it didn't mean that she wanted him to be late for practice. Plus, she would rather him leave right now anyway. "Nathan!" She spoke loudly while give him a hard nudge. _

_He groaned as he rolled over and opened eyes to see Haley standing over him. "Hey." He rasped._

"_Get up, you have practice." She spoke as she tossed his phone at him. _

"_What's wrong?" He questioned while sitting up in her bed. She seemed really moody this morning for some reason. That wasn't usually like her. He thought back to when he came to see her last night and remembered her acting the same way towards him. _

_Haley huffed at him. "Just go, Nathan."_

"_Not until you tell me what your problem is." He objected._

_He had to be kidding, she thought to herself. She had been trying to remain calm until that point, but that had just set her off. "What my problem is? My problem is you letting skanks hang all over at the party last night, while completely ignoring me and then you come staggering into my room at three o'clock in the morning, might I add, like nothing even happened and now you have the nerve to ask me what my problem is!" She ranted on and on. _

_Nathan sat there in shock. "What are you talking about, Haley?" _

"_Rachel. I'm talking about Rachel." She clarified for him. Obviously he just wasn't getting it._

"_What? You think Rachel was all over me?" He laughed._

_He was laughing? Haley shook her head. She didn't understand what was so comical about all of this. She was seething and he was laughing of all things. That was only pissing her off even more. "No, Nathan, I don't think she was all over you. I know she was all over you. Not to mention how rude she was to me! And what did you do, stand there like nothing was even going on, just talking about basketball to the guys. You were completely ignoring me!" By the time she was finished, she had been practically yelling. Good, she thought, maybe that will get her point across to him._

_He blinked at her a couple of times not knowing what to say. Sure he had been drinking last night, but he didn't remember Rachel being 'all over him' like Haley was saying. Nor did he remember ignoring her. He would never ignore Haley on purpose. _

_Thinking back to last night he recalled talking with his brother and all of his teammates when a few girls had walked over to them. Most of them were cheerleaders and yes, that had included Rachel. As he continued to think about it, he was positive that he remembered everything that happened last night. A little while after some of the girls had come over he had seen Haley making her way towards him. He was so happy to see her. They hadn't had a lot of time to just hang out recently and as soon as they had gotten there she immediately took off with Brooke and Peyton. However, once he was finished talking to the guys he looked over and noticed Haley had taken off once again just like that. He excused himself from the group and finally made his way into the kitchen where he found Brooke and Peyton, but no Haley. After asking them where she was, he learned that she had left the party altogether. He remembered being extremely confused as to why she would just leave by herself, let alone without even saying goodbye to him. On his way out to go find her, he had gotten sidetracked with some friends and made it a mental note to go see his girlfriend later. He hadn't meant for later to end up being three in the morning. _

_Haley stood there with her arms crossed waiting for him to say something, anything, but all she was met with was silence. Once she realized that he wasn't going to speak she sat down at her desk and opened one of her textbooks. She wasn't just going to stand around all day and wait for Nathan to say something._

_Haley moving around the room broke Nathan away from his thoughts about last night, none of which included him ignoring Haley for Rachel. He had no clue what his girlfriend was talking about. He stood up from his spot on her bed and walked the short distance to where Haley was sitting. "Haley, I don't even know what you're talking about." _

_She ignored him the best that she could. She told herself that she wasn't even going to give him the satisfaction of hearing her huff and puff or seeing her roll her eyes at him, so she remained stoic and continued to just stare at the words on the pages of her open book. She wasn't really reading anything, but she really didn't want to deal with Nathan's idiotic behavior at the moment._

"_Hales?" He questioned when she didn't say anything back. "What, you're not talking to me now?" He realized that he was only being met with silence as he quickly glanced down at his phone. He was surely going to be late for basketball practice if he didn't leave in the next five minutes and he still needed to change. If he was late, he was positive that Coach K. would have his head. "Look, I have to go practice..." He said. He waited a few more seconds before understanding that she wasn't going to say anything. It was official, he was on the receiving end of the silent treatment._

_As she heard her door open and shut she knew that Nathan finally left. She sat at her desk and hung her head in her hands. She couldn't believe he didn't remember anything with Rachel. Sure, he had drank last night, but he wasn't to the point of being belligerent or anything. Haley shook her head and sighed in frustration. She really hated this Rachel girl, thanks to her Haley wasn't even speaking to Nathan at this point. Some girls really needed to learn that guys with girlfriends were off limits! _

"Bitch."

"Whore." Brooke spoke at the same time Peyton did when Haley had finished explaining to them every detail about what had went down last night and this morning.

Brooke really felt like kicking Rachel's ass. Ever since Rachel first spotted Nathan freshman year she had always had her eyes on him. She knew that it was inevitable that they would be around each other often due to the fact that he was a basketball player and Rachel was on the cheerleading squad. Of course they would be at a lot of the same places at the same time, which always gave Rachel perfect opportunities to hang around him. As far as Brooke knew, Nathan had never really cared that much for Rachel though. She was pretty sure they had never previously hooked up. However, now that Brooke thought back on that she wasn't really sure why not, - it wasn't that she was encouraging it, she personally thought Rachel was disgusting, somewhere along the lines of what Brooke liked to call 'a walking STD' - but knowing Nathan's previous playboy ways and knowing how big of a skank Rachel was, it was shocking to know he had never went after her. It was even more shocking because Rachel was always pursuing Nathan and he had never been the type to pass on a good time. Honestly, she was glad though. Nathan could do so much better. And right now he was doing so much better with Haley. She really prayed that he didn't mess things up over Rachel. She was not worth it.

"I'm going to kick her ass." Brooke growled.

Peyton nodded. "I so have your back."

Haley offered her friends a small smile. She knew they were only trying to be good friends and be supportive to her. "That's not really necessary, you guys." She never really believed that violence was the answer to her problems.

"Okay, but you say the word and that bitch doesn't know what she has coming to her."

"Thanks, Brookie. You know, I've been thinking a lot about it this morning after Nathan left for practice and maybe everyone is right. I mean, Nathan is a player. Maybe he got what he wanted from me and now he's done." Haley spoke quietly, admitting her fears out loud to anyone for the first time.

Brooke shook her head. "Haley, that's not true and you know it. I've known Nathan for a really long time and I've never seen that boy the way he is with you. If that was really his agenda with you, I highly doubt he would have stuck around this long. I doubt he would have even made you his girlfriend. I know he was never the relationship type before, but with you, I really believe it's different."

"Yeah Haley, you have one thing all those other girls don't have." Peyton added.

"Like what?"

"You have his heart." When Peyton had first transferred to Duke, she had heard a lot of bad things about Nathan Scott. She was warned about his behavior by many people. That's why when Haley had first started hanging out with him, she had been very skeptical. She didn't want to see her new friend get hurt by this bad guy. Then as time went on, Peyton began to see that Nathan wasn't anything like what she had heard with Haley. She could tell her really liked her, but then again it didn't exactly take a genius to see it either.

* * *

"Man, you suck." Lucas teased as his player on the screen made another basket. He was currently playing Nathan in NBA Live and Lucas was kicking his little brother's ass for a change.

Nathan glared across the room. "Shut up." He growled and continued to press harder on the controller's buttons. He wasn't in the mood for Lucas's stupid comments right now.

Today was not Nathan Scott's day, he was sure of that. The moment he woke up he was already in a fight with Haley, basketball practice was getter tougher everyday, and now he couldn't even beat Lucas in a game of NBA Live anymore.

"I win. Again. What's that like five in a row?"

Nathan tossed his controller to the side as Lucas's team beat him another time. This was bullshit. He was done with this game.

"Way to be a sore loser, Nate." Lucas teased.

"I'm really not in the mood for your games right now, Lucas."

"What's wrong with you?" He questioned. Nathan could be a real jerk sometimes, but it was never over something as petty as a couple games of NBA Live. There had to be something else going on. He was sure of it.

Nathan shook his head. "Just forget about it. It's nothing."

The sound of Nathan's phone ringing broke in before Lucas got the chance to say anything else. He reminded himself to question Nathan about it later.

"Hello?" Nathan spoke into his cell phone. "Yeah, I know...I got it...No...You don't have to do that...Okay...I said, I got it...Bye."

Lucas eyed his little brother curiously. "What was that about?" He had never heard such a vague conversation in his life.

"Why don't you try just minding your own business for once, Luke." Nathan snapped. His brother could be so damn nosey sometimes. He needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut and just stay out of things.

"Or how about you learn to stop being an ass for once." Lucas retorted.

Nathan sighed as he ran his hands over his face. He hadn't meant to snap at Luke like that, it just happened. "Sorry." He grumbled.

Lucas nodded to show the apology was accepted. "Ready to tell me what's really been bothering you?"

"Haley won't talk to me." Nathan half explained.

"I don't know what you did, but if you want to know my advice, just go see her."

* * *

An hour later Nathan found himself standing outside Haley's door. He had probably been out there for about at least five minutes now just staring at the door. He had yet to bring himself to knock on it. Once he thought about what Lucas said about coming to see her, he knew his brother was right. He couldn't just leave things they way they were. Anyway, Haley was undoubtedly way more stubborn than he was so he knew if he was going to wait for her to come to him that it was very possibly that he could be waiting an extremely long time. Raising his fist he finally tapped on the door three times.

The door opened to reveal Peyton standing there. "She's not here." She said automatically knowing what brought Nathan to their dorm.

"Do you know where I can find her?" He was positive that Haley wouldn't be answering his calls right now so he wasn't even going to bother trying. He knew it would only be a waste of his time.

Peyton shook her head showing him she didn't know. "What happened, Nathan?"

"Honestly?"

"That's always a pretty good place to start." She said.

He sighed. "I really don't even know. When I woke up this morning she was acting really strange and when I asked her why she started going off on me saying something about Rachel being all over me last night and me ignoring her."

"Yeah, so I've heard. Is that true?" She challenged. If it was, she was sure that she was going to want to kick his ass.

"My memory isn't hazy at all. I don't have any missing pieces from what happened. I drank, but I didn't drink _that_ much that I can't recall what went on. All I know is that while I was talking to the guys Haley had shown up. Yeah, there were some girls hanging around us and yeah, Rachel was one of them, but I hadn't noticed her behaving any different than usual. I remember greeting Haley very quickly to finish up what I was saying just before she gotten there and then when I looked back to the spot she had just been standing in, she was gone. That's when I went to find her and you told me she left already. I don't understand what she's so mad about." He admitted. "That's the truth, Peyton. The whole truth."

Peyton instantly felt a little bad for him. She could tell he wasn't lying. It was obvious that he and Haley had different opinion on what had occurred. She opened the door wider. "You can wait for her in here if you want." She offered.

* * *

She reached for her phone in her pocket as she heard it beep twice signifying she had a new text message. Looking at the screen she opened the newest message from Peyton.

'_You should really talk to Nathan.'_

Slipping her phone back into her jeans she knew Peyton was right. She did have to talk to him, but did she have to do it right now? She still didn't know if she was completely ready to face the truth just yet, whatever the truth might be. Unlocking her door she saw that her roommate was no where to be found. Instead she found Nathan sitting on the floor against her bed.

"Nathan. What are you doing?"

He stood up at the sight of her. "Waiting for you. Peyton let me in. She said she didn't know where you were, but that I could wait here."

"The library. That's where I was, I mean." She told him as placed the books in her arms on her desk.

"Haley, about this morning...I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say. He didn't know what else he _could_ say.

She folded her arms across her chest. "That's great, Nathan."

"I don't know what else you want from me." He exclaimed while quickly growing exasperated with this entire situation. It was ridiculous if you asked him.

"If you're looking to argue some more then you can just go now."

He shook his head and walked a few steps closer to her. "That's not what I want."

"Well, then what do you want, Nathan?"

"For us to not be fighting anymore. Hales, whatever it was that I did to upset you last night, I didn't mean it. Can I tell you how I remember last night happening?" He asked cautiously.

Haley nodded her head. "Go ahead." She knew she had to at least give him a chance to defend himself even if a part of her didn't want to.

Nathan then proceeded to tell Haley everything that he told Peyton not too long ago. Once he finished speaking he stared at her, trying to read what she was thinking from any expression visible on her face. "You do believe me, don't you?" He questioned after a few minutes of silence. He could tell she was trying to process it all.

Looking into his piercing blue eyes, Haley could tell that he was telling her the truth or what his version of the truth was at least. Was he really that clueless that he didn't perceive Rachel's actions the same way she did? To her, it was plain as day to anyone with eyes what Rachel was doing, but he genuinely seemed as if he hadn't even noticed. It didn't faze him one bit. She knew that she had let her jealousy get the best of her and she wasn't proud of it, but Rachel had really provoked her. The worst part was that Haley had let Rachel see her get irritated. The last thing she wanted was for Rachel to thing she had won. Haley had to give it to the girl, she had conquered the battle at the party, but the war was definitely far from over.

"Hales?" Nathan's voice broke her away from her thoughts.

"I believe that you honestly believe what you remember is right, but you have to know that I'm not just making all of this up, Nathan."

"Thank you. And I do. So, agree to disagree on this one?" He offered.

She toyed with the idea of what Nathan was saying and as much as she didn't want to be okay with his offer, she realized that there really wasn't much of a choice. Both of their recollections were completely different and to say that either of them wrong was unfair considering it was what they both truly believed. She knew what she saw, but she could also tell Nathan was being honest with her about his view of things too. Sighing and giving her shoulders a small shrug she answered, "I guess."

Relief washed over him the instant he heard her choose to put this behind them. He hated fighting with Haley. He didn't like seeing her upset and to think he was he one that caused it only made him feel even worse about everything. "I'm sorry, Hales." He said softly.

She nodded. "I know." A small part of her felt like maybe she should apologize too, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

He opened his arms wide. "Come here."

Haley walked into his arms and placed her head against his chest as they wrapped their arms around one another. Her eyes closed as she felt his chin resting on top of her. "Do you think I'm fat?" She asked after a few seconds of silence.

Nathan pulled back really quick to glance at her. "What? Of course not."

"Do I have a little head?" She questioned him a second time.

"No, I love your head." He said before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Nathan?" She questioned a few moments later.

"Yeah?"

"You're suffocating me!" She laughed and chocked out her words as she felt his grasp around her getting tighter.

He pulled away from her slightly to look at her. "You think I'm suffocating you?"

"Yes! I couldn't breathe." She explained. He suddenly had a mischievous gleam in his eyes that was there moments ago. "Nathan, what are you -"

She was cut off by her own squeal as he without notice picked her up and pinned her to her bed. His hands instantly went to her sides in a tickling frenzy.

Her laughter filled the air as she tried to gasp for breaths all the while trying to fight off her boyfriend. "Nathan...please!"

"Please, what?" He asked innocently as if nothing was wrong, yet not pausing his actions.

"I really...I really cant...breathe...this time!" She finally managed to get her sentence out after a few failed attempts.

"That's silly. I thought I was already suffocating you before..." He pondered out loud.

Haley shook her head vigorously. "No...you weren't...please...stop!"

"Tell me I'm the hottest guy you've ever seen." Nathan smirked.

She nodded. "Yes!"

"Nope, try again."

He had such a huge ego already and she hated to inflate it even more, but he was the one calling all the shots right now and she wasn't really in any position to be objecting. "Okay, okay...you're...the hottest...guy...ever." She got out between her laughter.

Nathan stopped the tickling, but stayed hovering over top of her. "Now tell me you love me." He demanded.

Haley smiled up at him. "Of course, I love you." She reached up and brought his head down closer to hers so that she could meet his lips with hers for a passionate kiss.

Once they pulled apart from each other for air Nathan questioned her, "So, you would consider that a fight, right?"

She thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, I guess. Why?" She asked skeptically.

"Because," He said while beginning to trail kisses down her neck. "that means we get to have make-up sex."


	23. The Away Game

**Hey, sorry about the wait for the next chapter. I've been pretty busy lately. Reviews keep me motivated to keep updating though! :)**

* * *

"You're late." Haley spoke as she spotted her boyfriend finally making his way over towards her.

Nathan flashed a smile her way in hopes of forgiveness. When it came to studying, there was no doubt about it, Haley meant business. He was not the slightest surprised that she called him out on his tardiness. "No proper hello?" He teased.

"Hi boyfriend. Ready to study?" She asked with a fake gigantic smile on her face in order to placate him as he sat down across from her at one of the tables in the very back of the library.

"Do we have to?" He whined with a frown growing upon his face even though he already knew there was no way he was getting out of this tutor session. Not if Haley had any say about it and well, as his tutor, she had all the say.

She let out a small laugh while nodding at his childish behavior. It was so typical of Nathan to not be interested in studying. He only had one more mid-term left to go that was on Monday morning. It was currently Friday, which would have given Nathan just enough time to finish reviewing the important test material, or possibly just start reviewing in his case. However, the team had an away game this weekend on Saturday, which would take up most of his free time. Thankfully, they were only traveling to South Carolina, so it wouldn't be as long as some of the other away game trips were known to take. Haley promised Nathan that she would help him prepare as much as she could before he left later in the afternoon for the game. She had finished up with her last exam earlier in the week, which allowed her to have some additional free time to help him, although he clearly wasn't looking forward to it.

"Breakfast first." He stalled. "It _is_ the most important meal of the day, you know."

"And what it is that you have there for your oh-so most important meal?"

"Breakfast of champions, crackerjacks." He smiled while holding up the box for show. He ripped it open and poured some in his hand. "Please be a cheat sheet." He muttered, knowing there was a prize in every box. As far as he was concerned that was the only way he was going to pass this last exam he had coming up.

Unfortunately for Nathan, luck didn't seem to be on his side because he didn't get his wished for cheat sheet. Instead, he held a plastic bracelet made up of an array of little multicolored beads. He reached across the table and grabbed Haley's wrist.

"It's for you." He said while slipping it on her. "Don't say I never gave you anything." He smirked her way.

Haley could feel a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Damn him. He always made her melt with that smirk and she was sure that he knew it. At twenty years old he could made her feel like a little girl with her first crush all over again.

"Nathan Scott, are you just trying to charm me until I say we don't have to study?" She accused.

The smirk on Nathan's face grew larger by the second. "You haven't even seen my A game yet."

Haley placed a hand over her heart while laughing. "Lord, help me if that's true."

She looked over the review sheet one last time and slid it back towards Nathan. "I honestly think you're going to do just fine. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Three hours later and Haley finally relented into giving Nathan a break after his constant complaining. He was such a baby.

"It was pure torture, Hales." Nathan disagreed. How Haley ever thought studying was fun was one thing he would never understand, but he admired her love for school and how intelligent she was.

"Well, what do you know, looks like you survived!" She joked with him. "Anyway, I've got to get going to class. Guess that means this is goodbye...for now at least." Haley said referring to the fact that he would be leaving for the away game before she got the chance to see him again today. She got up from her seat and took the few shorts steps towards Nathan to plant a kiss on his lips. "Good luck at the game." She winked at him before walking away.

* * *

Not too long after the team bus had made it to South Carolina, the guys were immediately given their room assignments. Straight from there they were to report to the gymnasium for one last practice session before the game tomorrow. Nathan prayed that it wouldn't be anything too grueling, but he wouldn't dare to get his hopes up. Tomorrow was the official beginning of the playoffs and the Blue Devils were looking to go all the way. They were determined to take home the championship trophy. A win was always necessary, but in the playoffs the pressure to win always intensified because if you didn't then it was game over.

Nathan groaned as he made his way through the heavy gymnasium doors. Practice had been pretty tough, but then again he had unquestionably been through tougher. Now, all he wanted to do was head back to his room and relax. He sighed at the name appearing on the screen of his phone as it began ringing.

"Hello...Yeah, I know...Twenty-six...I can handle it...Whatever...Bye." Immediately after finishing his conversation, Nathan turned his phone off and tossed it haphazardly into the opening slit of his gym bag, not wanting to deal with it anymore.

Once he reached his room he sighed heavily, remembering that there had been a slight misunderstanding down at the front desk. Therefore instead of just sharing a standard two double-sized bed room with his teammate, Tim Smith, they were sharing a single queen-sized bed room. Thankfully, Nathan had won rock, paper, scissors to ensure he would not be spending the night on the floor. That was the last thing he wanted right now.

As Nathan slid his key in and pushed the door open he saw little candles were lit up and scattered all over the ground. His brows furrowed in confusion. "Your ass is still sleeping on the floor, Tim." He called out, but got no response. He had no idea what the hell was going on, although Tim was always a little...strange, so something like this shouldn't really surprise him.

Seeing the light emitting from the slightly ajar bathroom door, Nathan cautiously walked over towards it. Honestly, he wasn't sure he even wanted to know what was going on or what he would see in there for that matter. Curiosity got the best of him and he figured he would take his chances anyway. If anything weird happened then he decided he was just going to kick Tim's ass.

He leaned against the doorway and a smirk had already formed on his face as he took in the scene in front of him. To his surprise, Tim was nowhere to be found. However, there was Haley, his Haley, sitting in a gigantic bubble bath.

"Surprise! I switched rooms with Tim. I don't have to sleep on the floor, do I?" She spoke as soon as she saw Nathan make an appearance doorway.

Nathan looked at her skeptically. "What do you mean by switched?" He was so confused right now. Happy, yet nonetheless still confused.

"Well, Lucas really wanted to come watch the game since it's only like five hours away from Duke. Then once Brooke found out Lucas had planned this little road trip, she decided it would be a good idea to come with him. It didn't really take much persuading from her to get me to come too. And since Brooke and Lucas are well...Brooke and Lucas, I chose not to share a room with them cause yeah... So, I gave my room to Tim and here we are now." Haley finished explaining.

"Remind me later to thank Brooke for bringing you along." By this point, Nathan was squatting down in front of Haley outside the tub. "Come here." He mumbled and leaned in over the edge of the tub for a kiss.

Their lips fused together and only a few seconds later Nathan was running his tongue across Haley's lips, begging for entrance. Once they finally broke apart from one another, he rested his forehead against her's. This was definitely a pleasant surprise. He had been in complete shock when he first saw her. If all of his away game trips ended up like this then maybe he wouldn't complain about them as much anymore. He could without question get used to this.

"You have any room in there for me?" He asked her.

"I thought you'd never ask."

In an instant, Nathan hopped over the side of the bathtub and was sitting in the bubble bath with her, while still fully clothed.

Haley laughed loudly at her boyfriend's antics. "What, are you crazy?"

"Just for you."

* * *

Haley's eyes fluttered open while she stretched and held back a groan. Looking to her left, she noticed that Nathan was still sleeping very soundly. A soft smile was etched onto her face as she just lay there staring at him for a few minutes.

"Hey you, wake up." She leaned over and whispered softly in his ear. He looked so peaceful sleeping, but she knew he had to get up soon for the game.

Nathan stirred for a moment before reaching out and pulling Haley into his arms, all the while keeping his eyes closed. "Go back to sleep." He mumbled, not being ready to awaken just yet. If it was up to him, he would just lay here holding Haley all day if he could.

"Nathan, you have to get up." She giggled as he captured her in a tight embrace. "You have to go over to the gym for warm-ups in almost an hour."

"I don't wanna." He protested.

"Tutor-girl!" A loud voice called out along with rapid knocking at the room's door.

Nathan groaned as his eyes snapped open and he unhappily stared at Haley. She shrugged her shoulders innocently in response.

"Maybe if we're quiet, she'll go away." He suggested in a hushed tone, although he knew that would never be true in a million years.

Haley swatted Nathan's arm. "Oh stop! You need to get up anyway."

A few more rapid knocks came again. "Haley, don't you dare ignore me! Are you in there having some pre-game Naley sex?" Brooke's voice yelled through the door.

As Nathan began to turn over, Haley managed to escape his grasp. After throwing Nathan's t-shirt on from the night before, Haley made her way over to let Brooke in before the girl broke down the door herself. Haley had no doubt in her mind that Brooke would do such a thing. Besides, she would rather the whole hotel floor didn't hear Brooke screaming about her and Nathan's sex life. She wasn't as open as Brooke was about those kind of things.

"So you were having kinky Naley sex..." Brooked accused Haley as she took in her friend's appearance once the shorter girl came into sight as the door finally opened.

"Good morning to you too, Brooke." Haley spoke. "And we we're not!" She denied with a blush on her face.

Brooke gave her a look that told Haley she didn't believe that for a second, especially given the attire Haley was currently sporting. Ignoring Haley, she glanced over towards the bed where she knew a very naked Nathan was laying under the sheets. "Hi Nate."

"What do you want?" His voice was muffled by the pillow his face was buried in. Brooke was currently his biggest annoyance.

"Well, aren't you just oh-so-charming in the mornings." Brooke stated sarcastically.

"He's upset you're giving him a reason to get up." Haley butted in by poking her head out of the bathroom where she was getting dressed for the day.

"Oh, you mean besides the playoff game, which is the sole reason of him being here?" Brooke pointed out.

"Ready." Haley announced a short time later.

"Alright, let's get a move on then." Brooke declared.

Haley walked over to Nathan, who still hadn't moved from his spot on the bed and popped a quick kiss on his lips. "Bye baby, see you at the game."

It was the first round of the playoffs and the Duke Blue Devils were facing off with the Clemson Tigers of South Carolina. Right now, it was presently half-time with a score of 44-32 in favor of the blue and white team and Nathan had been on fire ever since tip-off. Seeing that they were only about five hours away from Duke, there ended up being fan buses taking students to the game to show their school spirit. Because of this there was much more Duke supporters than expected, which had been a good morale boost to the team.

"Ugh." She let out a small groan as she felt someone run into her shoulder, which caused her to land flat on her ass. Haley had finally been making her way back towards her seat, where she was sitting with Brooke and Lucas. The line for the women's restroom was extremely long, as had been expected and so she was now rushing back to make sure that she didn't miss a minute of the game. She wanted to be there to cheer Nathan on through all of it. But, of course as things would have it, she would get knocked into, possibly delaying her from getting back in time. "Hey, watch it!" She called out to whoever it was that was responsible for her being on the ground.

"Oh...Holly. It's you..." The voice spat.

Haley's eyes narrowed at the girl standing in front of her. "It's _still_ Haley." She gritted out, while standing up. Hadn't she gotten enough of this chick at the party a few weeks ago? It was just her luck to run into her again.

"Didn't see you there." Rachel said as she tossed her hair away from her face, which allowed Haley to see the drawn on '23' on the red-head's cheek.

"I'm sure you didn't." Haley mumbled back not believing that for a second. "Well, if you'll excuse me-" She started to say as she tried making her away around the fake red-head. She didn't have time for Rachel's stupid games.

Rachel grinned maliciously. "I've got to get going, Hannah" She interrupted Haley. "After-all, I need to make sure to give Nathan another good luck kiss before the second half of the game starts. Why do you think he played so well during the first half?" She commented, leaving a stunned Haley behind once again.

By the time Haley had made it back to her seat, she was still fuming from her encounter with Rachel. She, couldn't help it, this girl was getting on her last nerve. After the party fiasco, Haley had promised herself that she wasn't going to let Rachel's ridiculous antics get to her, but it was clearly going to be easier said than done. It was going to be much more difficult than she had originally thought.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, Lucas is right, you look pissed." Brooke added.

Haley huffed as she plopped back down in her seat. "I had another run-in with my best friend, Rach-ho. You know she has Nathan's jersey number painted on her face?"

"Well, I mean, you have his jersey number tattooed on your ass..." Lucas casually mentioned.

"_Above_ my ass, actually." She corrected. "And that's different anyway!"

Brooke threw her arms around Haley and gave her friend a squeeze. "Ignore that stupid skank, Hales."

"I'm trying." Haley pouted. She wished it was as simple as ignoring Rachel meant that the girl would just disappear.

Perking up as the second half began, Haley began cheering along with the rest of the crowd, pushing everything else to the back of her mind for now. At least her little altercation with Rachel hadn't cause her to miss any of the game. Twenty minutes later, the Blue Devils had won their first playoff game of the season. They were moving on to the next round, but it was only going to get harder from here on out.

* * *

Haley was one of the last people in the gym. She was waiting for Nathan to come out from the locker room and had told Brooke and Lucas to just go on without her, she would meet them outside. She wanted to congratulate her boyfriend on his win. Once she finally spotted him, she stood up and began to make her way over towards where he was. Except she immediately stopped dead in tracks the instant she saw the well-dressed man that had just approached Nathan. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Haley recognized the man as the one and only, Dan Scott. She couldn't stand even looking at that man after everything that she had witnessed throughout the duration of her stay at the Scott household over winter break. She despised the man after seeing how he treated people, especially Nathan. What kind of person could behave the way Dan Scott did, she wondered to herself. Not to mention the way he had checked her out on numerous occasions and made her feel uncomfortable under the gaze of his leering eyes. In her opinion, he was a despicable man and an overall pathetic excuse as a human being.

She watched as they exchanged a few words. Nathan was facing her way, but she couldn't read any expression on his face, for it was void of any emotions whatsoever. She wished she could hear what they were saying. The only thing she could do was pray that whatever it was that was going on the short distance away from her wouldn't end too badly like she had seen happen before.

The next thing she knew, Dan Scott had left the gym and Nathan was already beside her in an instant. She figured she must have zoned out in her thoughts because she hadn't even noticed him make his way over to her.

"Hey." She greeted him with a smile. "Congratulations on the game! You did great!"

"At least someone thinks so..." He mumbled as they began exiting the gymnasium together.

With that being said, Haley assumed that his talk with his father had not been a pleasant one at that. "So things with your dad went..." She trailed off not really sure what to say or do.

"Drop it, Haley."

"Nathan, you can talk to me about this." She tried to reassure him.

"Haley, I said just drop it." He barked and picked up his pace slightly leaving her a few steps behind him.

Haley froze in her spot for a moment. She was stunned to say the least. She wasn't sure what had just happened exactly. Of course, she had known that Dan was a touchy subject to him, but she had never expected Nathan to react like that and towards her of all people. She felt at ease talking to him about anything and everything and it saddened her to think that Nathan didn't feel that same way with her.

As she made her way over to Lucas' car, she watched as Nathan boarded the bus without saying another word to her. At this point, all she wanted to do was get back to Duke. This was not the end to the weekend that she had been expecting.

"You're awfully quiet, Tutor-girl." Brooke said from the front seat about an hour later into the drive back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Haley gave a small smile as she spoke. She did her best to try and sound as convincing as possible, even though it was the furthest thing from true right then with so many things plaguing her mind.

"You're not still letting Rachel get to you, are you?"

Seeing an easy way out, Haley seized it. "I know it's stupid, but I just can't help it." Technically, that was still the truth, it just wasn't what was bothering her at the moment.

"Don't worry about her, Hales." Lucas threw in.

Haley nodded. She leaned her head against the window and shut her eyes. She wished it was only Rachel that was bothering her.

* * *

It was good to be home, Haley thought as she plopped herself onto her own bed. Of course it wasn't anything compared to being back at her real home with her family in California, but her dorm room would have to do for now. She turned her phone back on to see one missed call from her mother, one from Nathan and a text from an unknown number.

_Haley, please call me._

She opted to put her mystery text message on hold for the time being and check on Nathan, except he wasn't picking up and all she got was his voicemail. "Nathan, it's me. I really hate the way we ended things-"

"So do I."

Turning to the door, she found a very solemn looking Nathan standing in the entrance. "Hi." She said, shocked to see him there.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that earlier." He knew it was wrong to take out his anger on Haley, but she was the only one there, which caused her to inadvertently be directly in his line of fire.

"You should buy them in bulk if you're going to hand apologies out that often." She retorted. She knew he was trying to be sincere with his apology, but it seemed to be something that was happening a lot these days. Even though she had been the one to call him a few moments ago, but it was mostly because she was worried about him.

He sighed. "Haley, I'm not...I'm just not like you."

"What is _that _supposed to mean?" She exclaimed. This was not going how she had hoped. They seemed to be arguing a lot lately.

"I screw up a lot, okay?" Nathan admitted. "And being around you, I don't want to be that guy anymore."

"Well, who do you want to be, Nathan?" She challenged. She wasn't really sure where this conversation was going anymore.

"I want to be somebody who's good enough to be seen with you. I've made a lot mistakes Haley. Sometimes because of my dad, sometimes by choice. And I'm sorry." He apologized.

Haley instantly felt her mood begin to soften at his words. She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry too."

His eyebrows crinkled in confusion. "What are you sorry for?" He asked, her apology catching him slightly off guard.

"I know that Dan is a sensitive subject with you and I just feel bad for pressing the issue. I just...I want you to be able to talk to me, Nathan. Like really talk to me about anything. Because I feel that way with you. And if you don't feel the same then what are we even doing?" She expressed her concern.

That was just like Haley, he thought, to apologize for doing something to piss him off even when he was the one who had snapped at her. Nathan grabbed her hand and walked them over to sit on the edge of the bed. "I want to, I do. It's just hard for me. I never had anyone like you in my life before that I could go to and help me deal with those kinds of things. You don't need to be sorry, Haley."

She leaned her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing I'm not used to." Nathan revealed. "Can we not do this right now though?"

Haley nodded in understanding. The last thing she wanted was for Nathan to feel pressure from her too along with everything else. She was a patient person and now that she had expressed her feelings about it to Nathan, she would sit back and continue to be patient with him. When he was ready to talk, she would be there.


	24. Learning to Deal

**Hey everyone, hope you all enjoyed your holidays! Here's the next chapter. The story is definitely coming to an end, but as far as how many chapters will be left is still to be determined. There haven't been many reviews, which makes me believe people are losing interest. Please please send me some reviews to let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

Lucas eyed his brother from across the room. Nathan was going over a couple of the new plays that Coach K. distributed this morning at their first round of practice for the day. He had been acting fidgety the entire time, unable to sit still for any amount of time. His legs would bounce up and down and then his pen would continuously tap the desk among some other shuffling around. Lucas wasn't getting even an ounce of reading done.

"Dude, are you okay over there?" Lucas finally asked. After about twenty minutes of Nathan's restlessness, he just couldn't take it anymore. He was trying to study and he wasn't getting anywhere due to his brother being nothing but a distraction.

Nathan looked back over his shoulder. "What?" He asked, clueless as to what Lucas was talking about. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"You seem agitated or something. You haven't sat still since you sat down." Luke clarified.

"I didn't notice." Nathan admitted while shrugging his shoulders and returning to his play book.

Deciding to let it go, Lucas tried to return to his studying when not even five minutes later Nathan was at it again. "Nathan...you're doing it again." Lucas pointed out.

"What the hell, Luke?" Nathan erupted as he stood up. "What do you want from me?"

He stared at his brother confused. What was going on right now? Nathan just began freaking out on him for absolutely no reason at all. "Nate?" He spoke calmly. He knew it was no use fighting fire with fire. It would do any good. A few deep breaths later and Nathan seemed to have calmed down. "What was that all about?" Lucas questioned after waiting for Nathan to regain some of his composure.

"Nothing." Nathan quickly dismissed.

Lucas shook his head. "Didn't seem like nothing..." He pressed his younger brother. There was obviously something that was bothering Nathan and if you asked Lucas, it didn't look like Nathan was handling whatever it was very well.

"Lucas, I said it's nothing. I'm fine" Nathan insisted.

"Is it practice?"

Lucas knew that Nathan's practices had been more strenuous than ever before. With their next playoff game rapidly approaching, the team was now on a mandatory two-a-day schedule. They were now practicing twice as hard and twice as much in preparation for the rest of the upcoming post-season games. None of it would be worth it unless they walked away with that trophy and the title of being the champions. That was what mattered.

"Yeah." Nathan lied to get Luke off his back. The loud blaring of his phone saved him from having to continue with that conversation that he didn't want to have. He wasn't in the mood to deal with this shit.

"Hi dad." Nathan picked up his phone. Ever since the regular season had come to an end his father had been calling him non-stop. He had to endure these conversations with his dad almost daily. They always consisted of the same things too. His father would mention who his next game was against like he didn't already know that information. Then he would proceed to rattle off facts about specific players on the opposing team or the team overall as a whole. Did he seriously think Nathan didn't make himself aware of all these statistics ahead of time? After that, Dan would criticize everything Nathan did wrong in the last game he played and mention all the things that he could have done better than Nathan. Nothing was ever good enough for that man. He would continuously hassle Nathan on how many points a game he was averaging and tell him that if he didn't get it higher then he would never have a chance at the NBA.

A frustrated Nathan slammed the door shut behind him as he left his room after he finally got off the phone with his father. First, Lucas was hounding him and then his father. He had enough of the both of them today. Combined, they had gotten on his last nerve. He was out of patience at this point.

He was getting ready to make his back to the gym for the second time that day. He wasn't sure which was worse, the fact that Coach K. added a second practice every day or if it was simply just the fact that it was added to the schedule at five in the morning. That part sucked big time.

"Hey you." A voice startled him along with the hand reaching out to touch him.

Looking over, he noticed Haley was no standing next to him. "Hey." He said shortly.

"Are you okay?" She moved her hand up his arm to touch his shoulder. "You're shaking, Nathan." She pointed out.

Nathan grabbed Haley's hand and placed it over his heart. "My heart's racing too. That's what happens when I'm around you."

Haley could feel her cheeks blushing as she pulled her hand away from Nathan's chest.

"Look, I've got to get going to practice, round two." Nathan spoke again before Haley had the chance to say anything at all. And with that he was gone before she even knew it without so much as a kiss goodbye.

Haley sighed as she watched her boyfriend walk away. He had been acting very strange the past few days. It was something she had picked up on especially since they had gotten back from the away game over the weekend. Now it was Wednesday and he still didn't seem like his normal self, so she was pretty sure that it didn't have anything to with the little spat they had. Besides, they had worked that out anyway.

The team's next game was tomorrow and it was at home. Then after that they had almost a full week before the next game, if they won the this one that is. She hoped that with that gap in between games that he would rid himself of the stress the playoffs brought, assuming that was the cause of her boyfriend's odd behavior.

Her phone ringing broke her out of her thoughts about Nathan. Staring at the screen, she recognized the number as the same unknown one that had sent her that mysterious text message.

"Hello?" She decided to pick up. Obviously it had to be someone that knew her because they had used her name in the text. She had meant to text back to see who it could be, but she had actually forgotten all about it until just now.

"Haley." The voice on the other side said with what sounded like relief. "I'm so glad you answered."

At hearing the voice though, Haley instantly hung up. Not even a minute later the same number was appearing on phone's screen once again. After hitting the ignore button, Haley immediately turned her phone off before they could call again. They have may sounded relieved that she answered, but the feeling definitely was not a mutual one.

* * *

"Hi Brookie." Haley spoke as she allowed her best friend entrance into her dorm.

Brooke dramatically threw her hands up in the air. "Thank God you are here! I was getting worried sick about you!"

Haley was officially confused. "What? Why?"

"Haley, I've been calling you for an hour!" Brooke exclaimed. "You haven't been answering."

Instantly, Haley recalled turning her phone off for personal reasons that she didn't want to get into right at that moment. "Oh, right...my phone died." She lied. "I can't find my charger." She added when she saw Brooke was about to interrogate her. It wasn't that she wanted to lie to her best friend, but she really wasn't sure what was going on so before she began to dish about it she wanted to learn more.

Brooke seemed to accept Haley's excuse as an answer because she quickly moved onto her next order of business. "We need girl time." She said with a clap of her hands. "Old-fashion, quality girl time bonding. Where's Peyton?" She asked surveying the room only to notice the curly blonde was nowhere to be found.

Haley glanced over to the other side of her room at Brooke's question. She took in the sight that it was yet again empty. Ever since Jake had been officially enrolled at UNC, Peyton had been spending a lot of her time over there. Since it was only about a half hour off campus it wasn't too bad of a commute if she stayed the night, which she tended to do on most occasions. It was pretty rare for Haley and Peyton to even be in their room at the same time anymore.

"She's been staying at Jake's a lot. I think they're finally dating now. Plus, Jenny is there too." Haley explained the absence of her roommate.

"Jenny?" Brooke questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Now, that's what I call kinky..."

Haley laughed at her friend's assumption. "Jenny is Jake's daughter, Brookie. Her mom ran away or something...I don't really know. It's a long story."

"Clearly." Brooke muttered. "But, Jake has a daughter?" She was shocked to say the least.

Haley nodded. "Yeah and Jake has had a pretty rough time with it. Apparently his ex is some kind of crazy psycho."

"Well, looks like it's just you and me then, Tutor-girl. I brought the nail polish." Brooke said, dumping the contents of her purse onto Haley's bed for show. "Got any good gossip for me?" She asked as she grabbed one of Haley's hands and began applying paint to her friends nails.

"Tutor-girl, hellllllooo?" Brooke waved one of her hands in her friends face after being ignored.

"Huh?" Haley shook her head out of her daze.

"I'm asking you if you have any good gossip?"

"Oh sorry, not that I can think of."

Haley hadn't even realized that she had zoned out on her friend. She didn't mean to not pay attention to Brooke, she just had so much going on in her mind right now. First, she was still dealing with Nathan's strange behavior and now she had her unknown caller continuously bothering her. In addition, although she hadn't personally seen Rachel since the away game, but that hadn't stopped her from overhearing things about how Rachel was apparently plotting to get Nathan.

* * *

"_Haley, it's Nathan."_

Those last two words had literally stopped her whole world in a matter of seconds. She kept replaying it back to herself over and over again in her mind. Lucas had knocked on her door and then before she had even comprehended what was happening, he was gone.

As of right now, she didn't know too much about the situation at hand. So far she had learned that Nathan had collapsed in the middle of practice that evening. She was pretty sure she remembered Lucas saying that the team doctor mentioned something about Nathan being extremely dehydrated. All she cared about was that Nathan was going to be alright, which she was still waiting to hear any word on.

That had been at least two hours ago. Lucas told her that he would have Nathan call her as soon as it was possible. She had yet to hear from either of them. Why hadn't she heard from anyone yet? Sitting around doing nothing except waiting was causing her to become a nervous wreck. She was driving herself crazy. Normally, she was a patient person, but she had never felt more impatient right now than she had her whole life. All she had been doing was alternating from pacing the length of her room to sitting on her bed as she would tightly hug Mr. Waffles, her childhood teddy bear, to her chest for a little comfort. It wasn't working as much as she had hoped it would like when she was younger.

What she did know though was that she wasn't going to be able to just sit in her room waiting around on more information for very much longer. Hearing Nathan's voice, was the only thing that would reassure her that he was really okay. It was the only thing she really wanted at the moment. The only thing she needed.

A brief knock at her door interrupted her. She leaped off her bed and ran over to answer. "Nathan!" She breathed and flung herself into his arms at the sight of him. There he was standing in front of her. It was so good to see him. It had felt like an eternity since Lucas had come to her room to break the news.

Nathan held her tightly for a few minutes before the two finally broke apart and moved from out of the doorway.

"How are you?" She asked, her voice laced with concern as they sat down on the bed together.

"Not so good." Nathan's voice croaked.

"What happened, Nathan?" Haley questioned. She had so many unanswered questions. "Dehydration?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew this was going to be hard. "I took speed, Haley." He admitted quietly as he hung his head in embarrassment. It was something he was extremely ashamed of and telling Haley about it only made it that much worse, but the sooner her admitted it to her, the sooner it would be over with. He had considered not telling her at all, but he just couldn't bring himself to lie. Not to Haley. He was afraid to look up at her, not wanting to see disappointment in her face.

Haley let out a small gasp as her hands flew up to cover her mouth. "Nathan, why would you..." Her words trailed off and she shook her head in disbelief. She had never expected this. It came as complete and utter shock hearing his confession. This was definitely way more serious than something like dehydration. She just couldn't believe it.

He sighed and ran his hands over his face. "It's not something I'm proud of. I just...my dad's been putting a lot of pressure on me lately. I know I should be used to him by now, but it was getting even more intense now that payoffs are here. Much more than before. He calls constantly and it does no use ignoring him because he'll only call more. I thought I could handle it. All of it." His voice was quiet as he spoke. She couldn't quite detect the underlying emotion in it. She assumed it was defeat. Never would she have imagined that Nathan would feel defeated when it came to basketball.

His words came as a surprise to her. Sure, she knew that Dan Scott pressured Nathan about basketball, but she had never realized that it was so serious that it would cause Nathan to resort to drugs. Hatred for Dan Scott immediately took over her thoughts. He was disgusting. How could a father ever push their son so much like that to the point where the child felt like he needed drugs to measure up to the expectations. Haley felt worse for Nathan that he let Dan get him to this point. She was upset that he let Dan defeat him.

She looked at her boyfriend sympathetically with her big brown eyes. "Nathan, I'm so sorry." She said slightly above a whisper and wrapped her arms around him to give him a hug. It was still so hard for her to completely wrap her mind around all of this.

He turned to face her a little more once the two of them pulled apart. "When I fell to the floor tonight, I was so scared, I was so terrified. Then I thought of you and I promised myself that if I could just get up, I'd come see you...I'd tell you how much I need you and how much I want you and how nothing else matters." He revealed to her, his voice raspier than normal.

At a loss for words, Haley leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Their kisses were soft and short, but still plenty meaningful. "I love you, Nathan." She said forcefully, as if she was reassuring him that she did and he was glad that she did because it was something he really needed to hear right about now.

"I love you too." He ducked his head down for another kiss. "Hales, can I just hold you tonight?" Nathan asked after they pulled their lips away and rested their foreheads against one another's.

And that was exactly how the two of them spent the rest of their night, laying in Haley's twin sized bed with Nathan holding her as close to him as physically possible.

He had felt an ounce of relief course through his body as he became fully aware that Haley wasn't holding this stupid mistake against him. She was such an amazing person. The fact that she could look past his flaws, especially the major errors in his judgments recently, only led him to believe that she was that much better of a person. He had never met someone who was so genuinely good before she came along. She was so incredible. Deep down he knew that there was no way in hell he deserved someone as good as Haley. He didn't know how she was able to forgive him just like that for his mistake. He was so sure she could do much better than him, but he just held onto all the hope he had that she wouldn't figure that out. He didn't even want to begin to think about what he would do if he lost her. In fact, he didn't know how he had ever gotten along without her before they had met. He wished he could have met Haley sooner in his life. Maybe then some of her goodness would have rubbed off on him and he wouldn't be as screwed up as he was.

Nathan looked down at the girl he held ever so tightly in his arms. He allowed a small smile to grace his face. She was already sound asleep in his embrace. He placed a soft kiss on top of her head. Seeing her overlook his biggest mistakes only made him fall even more in love with her than he already was.


	25. Recovering

**Hey all, so here's the next chapter. The story is winding down like I said before. I'm thinking about maybe five or less chapters left. Nothing is set in stone though. I only have one chapter ahead of this written yet. Also I'm so anxious for the new episode this week. WHERE IS NATHAN? He's my favorite and I'll be devastated if anything happens to him! This season has definitely kept my interest peaked so far. Well anyway please review for me and let me know what you think about this chapter. And finally thank you to those who reviewed that last!**

* * *

Trying her hardest to keep her eyes forced shut for just a little bit longer was becoming seemingly impossible at this point. She wasn't ready to wake up yet, nor had she been ready twenty minutes earlier when she first opened her eyes. Since then she had refused to her open her eyes again in the hopes that she would gain just a little bit more sleep. Unfortunately for her, it didn't seem to be working. Although sleep had come particularly easy to her last night due to being completely exhausted, it had been pretty late when she actually laid down, therefore it hadn't been much sleep at all. She finally allowed her eyes to flutter open as she gave up all hope of more sleep and thought back to the events of the previous night.

She had been a total wreck after Lucas came knocking at her door. She was so worried about her boyfriend and it had taken what seemed like forever for him to contact her. Even a little phone call or text from Lucas would have been much appreciated, but instead she was left with just herself and her thoughts.

Looking at Nathan's relaxed face while he slept, she wished he could be this peaceful all the time. She let out a small sigh at everything that had been going on with him lately. It had been difficult, that was for sure. Surely, she was extremely disappointed in her boyfriend for resorting to performance enhancers to overcome the pressures that Dan Scott was placing on his son's shoulders over a silly game. However, she couldn't help but argue that it wasn't entirely Nathan's fault. He worked so hard all of the time to impress his father and make that man happy, but nothing was ever good enough for Dan. All Nathan received in return was harsh criticism and constant belittling. That wasn't to say she was condoning Nathan's actions of taking the drugs, that wasn't the case in the slightest bit, but she really felt extremely bad for him. Besides, who was she to say that she wouldn't resort to a little extra help with the kind of pressure he was under? Until she was in the same position as him, she couldn't say for sure. Thankfully, she had no idea what it was like to experience first hand never being good enough for her parents.

She hated Dan Scott with everything in her. It killed her inside to see him treat Nathan the way he did. She wondered if he knew what he was doing to his son. She wondered if he knew that Nathan had taken speed. She wondered if even if he did know, if he would even feel a speck of guilt or regret. But, that was the thing about Dan Scott, she wasn't sure he was capable of feeling anything at all. If you asked her, he was cold and heartless.

Haley reached out to trace the features of Nathan's defined face, mentally telling herself to use only the softest touch so he wouldn't wake up. He needed the rest, both physically and mentally. Looking over passed Nathan she noticed the time and thought about how he was supposed to be at practice right now. She was thankful that he had been excused from today's basketball session. A day away to relax would do him so good. She just wished that he could see it.

They hadn't really went over all the details of everything last night. She didn't blame him for not wanting to and respected giving him some time. As she thought of his confession though, she couldn't help but think if it was the reasoning behind Nathan's strange behavior recently. Now that it was done with she just hoped the normal Nathan would be here to stay for good.

"Hey you." She whispered with a small smile as she saw Nathan's blue eyes staring back at her.

In response, he closed the small space between them and placed a soft kiss on her forehead without uttering a single word.

"How are you feeling?" It was a question she was semi-nervous to ask.

"Okay." He answered groggily. "I'm supposed to be a practice right now." He mumbled more to himself than to her.

Haley nodded. "Yeah, I know, but it'll be good to just take a break. It's only one day." She tried to reason.

He looked back over at her. He knew she was right, but he still couldn't help the feeling of guilt from coming up. He felt guilty for even taking performance enhancers in first place. He felt guilty for missing practice this morning, not that it was his choice because if he had a say in this at all he would be there right now. Yet, he mostly felt guilty because he felt like he was letting everyone down.

"The banquet is tonight." He reminded her. And himself. "They're going to give me the MVP award, Haley. I don't deserve that. Not anymore."

Attending the basketball banquet was honestly the last thing he felt like doing. He didn't want to go there knowing he was going to be on the receiving end of an award he no longer deserved. It made him sick to think about how they were going to give it to him. Right now, he really wanted to call his coach and beg him no to give him that award. Someone else deserved it. Someone that wasn't as such of a disgrace as he was.

"You made a mistake, Nathan. _One_ mistake. Everyone does. And I can already tell it's something that you truly regret it doing. You've worked extremely hard for this all season. If you didn't feel remorseful for taking the drugs, then I would say no, you don't deserve it, but you do. Those drugs didn't make you train as hard as you did all year or make you put in those extra hours at the gym. You put your entire heart and soul into playing for this team and anyone that watches you can clearly see that. You did those things all on your own. The drugs were a one time mistake. Please, don't let that ruin all the previous hard work you've done."

"You're amazing, you know that?" He spoke before placing a soft kiss on her lips. "How did I get so lucky?"

"It helps that you're hot." She joked, trying to lighten the mood a little. It was literally taking everything in her right now not to call up Dan Scott and give him a piece of her mind. He should be ashamed of himself. He not only drove his son to use drugs, but he was also single-handedly diminishing all the hard work Nathan had done previously as well. The whole situation disgusted her.

"Well, we knew that already." He stated cockily before turning serious a second later. "No, but really, I can't thank you enough for being so incredible. You're not even holding this whole thing against me. And I just wanted to apologize for everything. I know I've been difficult to deal with recently. I'm sorry for how I've been acting. I want you to know that I didn't mean any of it."

He felt ashamed for how he'd treated Haley. She deserved way better than him. The way he had been behaving reminded him of the old Nathan, the Nathan he was before he had ever caught a glimpse of Haley. Since the day he first met her things had been completely different though. He was a better person. He didn't want to fall back into his old ways again. He wanted to be good enough for Haley and he just hoped that one day he actually would be.

She reached out and cupped his cheek in her hand. "It's okay, Nathan. You've been dealing with a lot. I just wish you could have talked to me about it..." She trailed off.

Nathan grabbed her hand from his face and kissed the back of it. "I know. You're right, I should have. And I'm sorry."

"Just don't let it happen again, Mister." She pointed her index finger at him.

The sound of her phone ringing on the nightstand broke the couple out of their thoughts. Reaching across Nathan she grabbed it. Seeing the unsaved number on the screen she quickly dropped the phone as fast as she picked it up. That was about the fifteenth call this week. She had been ignoring all of them.

"Who is it?" Nathan questioned when she didn't pick it up.

"Um, just Brooke." She lied easily while swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Don't you wanna get that?"

She flicked her wrist. "I'll call her back later. I just wanna lay here with you." She said snuggling back into her boyfriend's muscular arms.

* * *

"And, you're done." Brooke announced as she put a touch of lip gloss onto Haley's lips.

"Thanks for all your help, Brookie." Haley said, looking herself over one last time in the full length mirror seeing as Nathan was going to be there any minute now to pick her up for the banquet.

"Anything for you, Tutor-girl. Although I really wish I was going too." Brooke pouted as she spun around pretending she was all dressed up for the banquet as well.

If there was one thing that Brooke loved to do, it was take her time getting all dolled up and go to fabulous events. Although, she supposed the basketball banquet was all that fabulous, but a girl could dream.

Haley walked over and gave her a friend a hug. "Me too, Brookie. I don't really want to go alone. Rach-ho is going to be there..."

"Don't let her see you sweat, Hales. Nathan's _your_ man."

"I just wish she knew that." Haley mumbled.

"I'll be there at the party afterwards though. Don't forget you promised to come meet me there. But for now, Lucas is waiting for me so I've got to go. Try to have a good time." Brooke said before bouncing out the door.

Haley sighed as her phone rang. She had a good idea of who it was without even looking. She had been trying to ignore the calls the best she could, but this was just getting out of hand now.

"Hello?" She reluctantly answered. It wasn't something she wanted to do, but it was clear if she didn't take action that the calls would not be stopping any time soon. The faster that she was able to end this, the better, that was for sure. "What's this about?"..."Congrats." She spoke dryly. ..."No."... "I'd like you to stop calling me." Haley said before abruptly hanging up.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door signaling that Nathan was there. Plastering a smile on her face, Haley opened the door. "Hi."

"Hey. You look beautiful. As always." Nathan greeted.

"Why thank you. You don't look so bad yourself either." She teased.

He offered out his hand to her. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She muttered under her breath while grasping Nathan's much larger outstretched hand with her own smaller one.

* * *

The banquet had been nice, but both Nathan and Haley were glad it was over for their own separate reasons. For Nathan, it was because he didn't want to continue feeling the guilt that was inside of him over receiving the most valuable player award. For Haley, it was because she could escape the conniving looks and sarcastic comments that had been continuously coming her way from Rachel every second Nathan wasn't by her side. She knew there was no way that the red-head would have left her alone tonight.

Now the pair was currently on their way to the after party. Nathan had suggested not going at all when they made a stop at the dorms to get changed. The idea of skipping it did sound very appealing to Haley and she would normally go for it except for the fact that she had made a promise to Brooke to see her there. Ultimately, they decided to show up and make a quick appearance before leaving. The plan was to stay for about an hour, say hi to all their friends and then slip out the door discretely.

"We don't have to go in, you know." Nathan spoke as they walked up towards the party, giving them one last chance to back out.

"One hour?"

He nodded. "One hour."

"Haleyyyy!" Brooke yelled over the music once she spotted her best friend walk in. It was about damn time the girl got there.

"Hey Brookie. What's going on?"

"You will not even believe this!" Brooke said, pulling Haley in another direction from Nathan.

Haley looked over her shoulder longingly at Nathan. 'Help me.' She mouthed at him. Parting from him had not been part of the plan. That was only going to make it that much harder for them to leave as quickly as planned now that they would have to go looking for each other first.

He shrugged his shoulders at her, knowing better than to mess with Brooke. "One hour." He called out to her.

"Look at that hoe-bag!" Brooke exclaimed and pointed at the center of the room.

Right before Haley's eyes was Rachel dancing on top of a table looking like she was practically half naked based off the very little clothing she was sporting. Well, it was more like a striptease if you asked her. Haley knew she shouldn't even be surprised by Rachel's behavior.

"Typical." Haley mumbled under her breath with an exaggerated eye-roll as Rachel finally hopped off the table top, receiving cheers from the drunk boys surrounding her.

"Got a problem, Holly?" Rachel asked getting in the shorter girl's face.

Haley sucked her teeth. "Nope." She answered shortly, trying to ignore Rachel the best that she could.

"Where's Nathan?" Rachel questioned. "Oh that's right, I told him to meet me upstairs. I wouldn't want to keep him waiting, but don't worry Holly, I won't keep him out too late..."

Enough was enough and Haley had finally been pushed to her limit. Haley abruptly snatched the cup that Brooke was holding out of her hand. In a matter of seconds she tossed the beverage in Rachel's face drenching the red-head with some kind of alcohol. "_That_ is for being a manipulative bitch!" Haley reached up and slapped the taller girl's cheek immediately afterwards. "And _that_ is for trying to sleep with my boyfriend!"

Brooke's eyes widened as she gasped loudly. Never in a million years had she expected Haley to do that. As soon as the shock wore off, a smile appeared on her face. She was so proud of her best friend for finally standing up to that slut.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" People began chanting loudly as they gathered around the two girls, not wanting to miss a thing of what was about to unfold.

"You little bitch." Rachel growled as she reached out to shove Haley. However, before she could even lay a hand on the shorter girl in front of her she felt someone grab a hold of her arm and push her back.

"I don't think so." Nathan warned. He let go of Rachel's arm and stepped in between her and Haley. "That's enough, Rachel. Leave her alone." He growled while glaring at the annoying cheerleader.

No way was he going to let someone lay a hand on Haley. When one of the guys on the team came over and told him Haley was in a fight he didn't believe it for one second. Not _his_ Haley. But, sure enough here she was in the center of the room about to throw down with Rachel. He was completely shocked to say the least.

"Whatever." Rachel let out a frustrated scoff before shoving her way through the crowd.

"Hales, that was awesome!" Brooke commended, jumping over to hug her best friend. "That slap had to have left a hand print!"

She shot Brooke a small smile as she pulled away before turning to Nathan. "Can we go now? Please!" Haley begged.

"After you, Rocky." He smirked while grabbing her hand and letting her lead the way to the door.

* * *

"I _cannot_ believe I did that!" Haley exclaimed as she plopped herself onto Nathan's bed once they made it back to his room.

Nathan could no longer hold back his laughter at the entire situation.

"It isn't funny!" She swatted at his arm.

"Oh come on, Hales, it's kinda funny..." Nathan bit back a smile.

Haley covered her face with her hands. She was never one to believe that fighting solved anything and that was exactly what she did tonight. Even though Rachel did have it coming, that didn't make it exactly okay. Not to say she regretted it because she would do it again in a heartbeat. She was tired of Rachel's little digs at her and the girl's crazy obsession with her boyfriend. The girl had pushed her past her limit and Haley never believed in letting people walk all over her.

Nathan chuckled. "My girl is badass." He said pulling her hands her away from her face and holding both of them in just one of his above her head. "That's hot." He smirked as he climbed on top of her and ducked his head down to capture her lips with his in a passionate kiss.

He caressed her lips with his own before tracing his tongue over hers. She instantly granted him permission into her mouth as her tongue battled his. With things heating up quickly, Nathan's hands made quick work of discarding Haley's shirt, only breaking their kisses to pull the article of clothing over her head. His mouth made its way down to her neck placing open-mouthed kisses on every spot he reached. She let out soft moans at the contact of his lips against the skin on her neck. Nathan could already feel himself growing harder at the small noises his girlfriend was making. She unintentionally was driving him wild.

Haley slid her hands up Nathan's back underneath his shirt, feeling all of his toned muscles as she did so. They parted briefly once again only so that Nathan could pull his own shirt off once Haley had began pushing it up, signaling that she wanted it gone. Her hands continued to roam his now naked upper body while Nathan continued his ministrations on her neck, slowly making his way closer to her breasts. Reaching behind her, he expertly unclasped her lacy bra in swift move and then quickly discarded it by tossing it to the side.

Their lower halves were grinding together creating an intense friction due to still being clothed. One of his hands slid down in between them to top of her jeans and easily popped the button open before moving on to her zipper.

"Oh my God, my eyes!" Lucas shrieked as he walked through the door, instantly placing a hand over his eyes, not that it would help much considering he was pretty sure he was already blind from what he just witnessed.

Nathan and Haley jumped at the sound of the door and Lucas' cries. A dark blush immediately graced Haley's face as she tried to cover herself up. While she grabbed the sheet on Nathan's bed to hide under, Nathan on the other hand, let out a frustrated groan before flopping over onto his back next to Haley. Leave it to Lucas, to disrupt them. He was going to kill his brother.

"Oh. My. God." Haley muttered from under the sheet, completely mortified by the situation. "This is so embarrassing."

"I've been blinded. I'm sure of it." Lucas whined, peeking through his fingers to see Haley and his brother both now wearing shirts, much to his liking.

Ew, that was definitely something he could have gone the rest of his life without seeing, he thought. On the positive side of things, his brother and friend were at least still half clothed so technically it could have been way worse. Nathan saw it as Lucas having terrible timing by walking in on them, but as far as Lucas was concerned he had great timing seeing as if he would have been any later then who knows what he would have saw. He shuddered at the mere thought of seeing more than he already did. It was disgusting if you asked him. That was his brother and he viewed Haley to be like a little sister to him. It was just wrong on so many levels.

"Shut it." Nathan growled unhappily at his brother.


	26. The Search Is On

**Hey guys, here is the next chapter for whoever is still reading. I've been getting a lot of hits and visits for this story, but sadly the last chapter only got one lonely review :( I would really appreciate any feedback that you could give me if you have a few seconds to spare. I'm going to finish the story regardless, but it would be nice to have a little motivation from the readers in order for me to be able to knockout the last few chapters. **

* * *

A few weeks flew by in the blink of an eye in Haley's opinion. Everything seemed to finally be back to normal. Haley found a great sense of peacefulness due to everything settling down. She was extremely thankful for the calmness that had taken over the past few weeks. Dealing with Nathan's problems with Dan definitely had taken quite a fair toll on not only Nathan, but on herself as well. However, she absolutely refused to express to Nathan how draining it was though in fear that he would take it the wrong way. He was still really insecure about taking the drugs and Haley didn't want him to think that she was holding it against him because that definitely was not the case. It was Dan that she blamed, not Nathan. Of course, some people may just see her blaming Dan as a girl making an excuse for her boyfriend, but Haley figured it was because those people didn't have to face the wrath of Dan Scott for themselves. There was nothing like experiencing something first hand to make you change your opinion.

Fortunately, when the news of Nathan's collapse spread, everyone was simply talking about how he had been dehydrated. Haley was especially grateful that no one had found out that the dehydration was due to drug usage. She could only imagine the kinds of horrific things that would happen then. She shuttered just thinking about it.

Slowly, Nathan was finally beginning to forgive himself for taking the drugs after a lot of encouragement on her part. Lucas had helped out with that too. They were the only ones who knew after all. It wasn't easy to make Nathan see that what he did was understandable. He felt so ashamed and Haley could definitely see why, but she also felt as if he was punishing himself a little too much. She tried her best to make sure he saw both sides of things, such as how it was his fault for resorting to that, but it was not his fault that he had an overbearing father who pushed him to that point by belittling him in so many ways.

On a more positive note, the Blue Devils had been winning all their playoff games the last couple of weeks and things were looking good for them to secure a spot in the championship. Nathan had been pushing himself and dedicating himself even more so than before he took the drugs. He said it was just him trying to make it to the championship, but Haley was sure it was some kind of self punishment as a way to prove himself to the game. She figured he needed to push himself harder than before to show that he still deserved to play. He was constantly saying how what he did was a disgrace to the game. She tried to reason with him that it happened during practice and Nathan always responded with how it didn't matter because he had planned on using them during actual games as well. Knowing there was nothing more she could really say, Haley kept quiet about him overexerting himself as long as he pushed himself without the drugs. That wasn't to say she still didn't worry though. However, she was very excited for Nathan that the team had been doing so well. She wanted this for him so bad because she knew how much it meant to him. Dan had never gotten so far as to win a college championship and she knew that it meant the world to Nathan to be better than his father and accomplish all the things his father didn't believe he could do. She had to admit, she loved Nathan's drive and dedication when he set him mind on something.

Another great thing over these past few weeks was that ever since Haley slapped Rachel, the girl had been keeping her distance not only from Haley, but from Nathan as well. Haley couldn't help but smile a little at that thought. She was so relieved to finally have Rachel off her back. It was one less thing that she had to worry about. All Rachel had done was make her feel annoyed and insecure. Not to mention that she tried to consistently get her boyfriend to cheat on her. Thinking about it caused her to roll her eyes at the red-head's antics. Clearly, the girl had some personal issues she needed to work on if she had to keep going after other girls' boyfriends that many times. Haley was sure this wasn't the first time that Rachel played the home-wrecker card.

The only down side from her fight with Rachel was that _everyone_ was talking about it. Haley was pretty embarrassed from all the attention she had been getting around campus due to her act of violence. She wasn't used to being the center of attention besides when she was with Nathan and now when she wasn't with Nathan and getting that attention it was for something bad. That would be just her luck. She had decided not to let it bother her though because in the end it was worth it since Rachel was keeping to herself these days. In all honesty though, Haley would rather receive no attention at all from it, good nor bad. She wasn't really the type to need to be in the student body spotlight.

"Hey Baby."

Haley looked up from the assignment she was currently working on to see her boyfriend walk through the door of her room. She smiled at him. "Hey, I thought you weren't coming over until later?" She asked after taking a quick glance at the clock on her nightstand.

Nathan held up a white to-go bag. "I thought maybe you could use a study break and eat."

"Depends. What do you have in there?" She eyed him curiously. The idea of food definitely peaked her interest. She had been crammed up in her room all day working on this assignment.

Pulling one of the cartons out the bag, Nathan made his way over to where she was sitting on her bed. "Only your favorite." He said, his arm outstretched towards her holding the to-go box.

Immediately, Haley snapped her books shut and pushed them to the side. "Ooh, give it to me!" She exclaimed, reaching out to take the food from Nathan. "Mmm, food of the gods." She mumbled on her first bite with a mouth full of macaroni and cheese.

Nathan rolled his eyes and laughed at his crazy girlfriend. "You know that's food for-"

"For five year olds. Yes, I know, you've expressed that to me many times already and like I told you before, you're just crazy and obviously don't know what you're talking about." She interrupted him.

He shook his head at her. Some things would never change he guessed. Not that he would want to change a thing about her anyway. He was so in love with the girl sitting in front of him. She was absolutely amazing and she didn't even know it. She was simply perfect.

"So, how was practice?" She asked breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between the two.

Nathan laid himself down on her bed and groaned. "Tiring like usual. It'll be worth it though once we win the championship. That's all that matters right now."

"And how many games to go?"

"Just three more until we make it to the actual championship. Four if you count it. It's so close."

"You guys will make it. You've been playing amazing." She encouraged him as she finished off her mac and cheese. He seriously was the best boyfriend in the world for surprising her with it.

"Hales, you know I appreciate your faith in me and in the team, but considering you call free throws, free shots, I don't think you have the best opinion exactly." He teased about her lack of sports knowledge. He just didn't understand how she could be so incredibly smart when it came to everything else, but when it came to sports she knew absolutely nothing.

Haley pretended to be offended by his statement and gasped. "I resent that!" Sadly, what he said was one hundred percent true, so she didn't really have any way of defending herself from his remark.

"Truth hurts." He laughed.

She laughed and slid over next to him. Cuddling into Nathan's side, she laid her head atop his firm chest and draped one of her arms across his upper body. Instantly, she felt Nathan encase her within his strong arms that were previously resting under his head.

"This is nice." Haley spoke after a few minutes passed by. "I like being like this. Nothing stressing us out. No drama. No distractions." She rattled off a couple of the things that had been bothersome a few weeks prior.

She felt Nathan nod his head. "Yeah, it's a nice change of pace."

He fully agreed with Haley. It _was_ nice to have no drama or stressful situations going on right now. Especially after all the stuff they had been dealing with, it felt good to finally just be able to relax without having other things constantly nagging them in the back of their minds. He hated how most of the problems they had to deal with were his fault. He didn't like how he kept putting unnecessary problems on top of Haley's shoulders. It was like he couldn't stop screwing up recently. Unfortunately, because Haley was dating him, she took on his problems like they were own. She was so good to him. He would never understand what this girl saw in him that kept her sticking around. One thing he did know was that he would be counting his blessings as long as they were still together.

* * *

After her phone rang for the third time in a row Haley sighed as she finally decided on picking up. This persistency had to end and the sooner, the better.

"You _have _to stop calling me." She spoke into her phone without even bothering to greet the person on the other side of it. This was seriously getting out of hand.

"_I really just want to talk to you, Haley."_

She sighed loudly. "I don't think that's a good idea. Please, just stop calling."

"_Just meet up with me to talk. Only talk. I promise once we talk, then I'll stop calling you."_

Haley shook her head despite the person not being able to see her. "I don't know..." She trailed off. She wasn't sure how she felt about that idea.

"_Please, Hales."_

She cringed at the use of her nickname coming from their lips. "And you won't call me anymore?" She asked skeptically.

"_If that's what you want." _They agreed.

"It is." Haley confirmed.

"_As long as you hear what I have to say."_

Haley groaned and then paused for a moment or two before speaking. "Fine." This was definitely something she would have rather had time to mull over, but that wasn't exactly an option in this case.

"_I'll text you the details." _

With that Haley hung up the phone not caring enough to say goodbye. Only a minute later did her phone go off signaling that she had new text message. Indeed, it contained the details of her meeting just like they had said it would. All she could do now was wait until then and pray for the best.

* * *

"Haley, wait!"

Haley stopped dead in her tracks. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she slowly turned around. She would know that squeaky voice anywhere nowadays. What could she possibly want from her though? And did she just call her 'Haley'? Was she going to make bitchy remarks like usual? Or was she out to seek revenge and attack her right here in the middle of campus? Oh God, Haley could only imagine being lunged at right now. This might get ugly.

She stood there awkwardly folding her arms over her chest not knowing what to say or if she should even speak at all for that matter. She was not prepared for this. "Hey." She mumbled softly, looking anywhere and everywhere except for the girl in front of her. Well, this was uncomfortable for sure.

"I just wanted to say sorry."

At this, Haley's head snapped up with widened eyes. Quickly, she tried to recover from looking shocked. She stared at Rachel for a moment allowing what she said to really sink in.

"You know, for being a mega-bitch to you and going after Nathan like that." Rachel added before Haley even responded to her apology.

Haley nodded her head. "Thanks Rachel." She said softly and gave a small smile.

Although she appreciated Rachel giving her an apology she was still a little skeptical where this was suddenly coming from. It's not like she and Rachel were ever friends. In fact, she had never even had any contact with her until she started going after Nathan and from that moment, she had never done or said a single nice thing. Therefore, to hear the word 'sorry' coming out Rachel's mouth and directed at her was a big shock.

"Who knew for a little girl you could slap so hard, huh?" Rachel tried to joke.

This was so awkward, Haley thought. First, Rachel was calling her by her actual name, then she gave an apology and now the joking around? What was going on here? If this was what she was going to get from Rachel, she would take it until she figured out the reason behind it. After all, it beat the nasty comments and rude behavior.

Haley forced out a laugh. "Sorry about that." She wasn't sure if she truly meant that or not. Of course, she felt a little bad for resorting to smacking Rachel, but she did sort of have it coming.

Rachel shook her head. "It's cool. I mean you were defending yourself and your man. I have respect for you now." She admitted to the smaller girl.

Haley didn't know what to make out or hearing Rachel's confession. She was stunned. That was the last thing she had expected to hear. Actually, this whole conversation was unexpected. Maybe she was dreaming. Yeah, that had to be it. There was no way that this was really happening right now.

"I better to get class. See ya around." Rachel spoke again so that Haley didn't have to respond. It would have been too awkward.

Haley watched as Rachel walked away from her. She still couldn't believe it. It was weird enough having Rachel call her Haley instead of pretending not to know her name, but for her to say that she would see her around...that was bizarre. Haley hoped this was genuine and that there was no ulterior motive behind Rachel's apology. She did seem sincere and Haley was a sucker for seeing the good in everyone so maybe there was some good in Rachel too. Only time could tell.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" He boomed furiously.

She looked like a deer caught in headlights as her head whipped around to see him. "It's not whatever you think!" She tried to explain instantly while pushing off the chair she was previously occupying.

He scowled. "Save it." His voice came out in a low growl and he instantly turned around to storm off. To say that he was pissed was seriously the biggest understatement.

"Nathan!" Haley called out while swiftly grabbing her purse. "Nathan, wait!"

Yet, as Haley went to chase after Nathan she felt herself being pulled back. She looked down at her arm and noticed the hand holding onto it. Haley looked up into the green eyes staring down at her.

"Don't go."

She shook her head. "Let go." She said firmly, yanking her arm away. Once she had her arm back she took off immediately after Nathan. As she was exiting the door of the small diner she could hear him following her.

"Haley, stop!"

She whipped her head around quickly. "Do _not_ follow me!" She warned.

To her dismay once she looked back in the other direction Nathan was no longer anywhere in sight. Determined to find him, quickly she began racking her brain for all the places that Nathan may have stormed off too.

As she went on her search for Nathan, her mind was practically on overload. She couldn't make it stop. There were so many thoughts running through her mind at the same time and it was as if she couldn't take control of it and allow herself to concentrate on just one of them at a time. She needed to explain. That was the biggest thing she could think of. He needed to know the truth. She just hoped that he would let her have the opportunity to tell him. Knowing Nathan though she was almost positive it was going to be a difficult task.

After six ignored calls, three unanswered texts, looking in the gym, the weight room, and a couple of other various places around campus it was beginning to get dark out and Haley took it as a sign that Nathan did just not want to be found. There was only one more place that she was going to check before calling it quits for the night.

Once she reached their dorm building and made it in front of his door she began feeling slightly nervous. Taking a few deep breaths in order to allow her to get herself together she finally gathered up the courage to knock. A few seconds later she came face to face with the wrong Scott.

"Hey Hales. What's up?" Lucas greeted her warmly like usual.

According to the smile on his face and his overall behavior she was assuming that he hadn't spoken to Nathan.

"Is Nathan in there?" She asked, forcing a smile small of her own.

He shook his head negatively. "No, but you wanna come in and wait for him?" He offered. "He's been gone all day so I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Haley pondered Lucas's suggestion momentarily before deciding that she better not. "No, that's okay. I think I'm just gonna go. Just let him know I stopped by?"

Lucas nodded. "Sure thing. See ya later then, Hales."

"Thanks Luke." She said before making it down the hall towards her own room.

She turned her key and pushed the door open. Once she flicked on the lights she let out a small yelp as her right hand went flying over her heart. "Oh my God, Nathan! You scared the crap out of me!"

However, she only received silence in return.

Once her breathing even out again she swallowed the lump she felt forming in her throat. "How did you even get in here?"

Nathan stood up from where he was sitting off the bed. "Peyton." He answered shortly.

There was definitely some undeniable tension in the air. Neither one of them could try to deny it.

"Nathan, I-" Haley began.

"Don't." He said putting his hand up signaling for her to stop, cutting her off before she could say anything of importance. "Look, Haley, I just came over here to tell you that we're done."


	27. What Happened?

**So I'm extremely depressed that OTH is actually over! Who else cried with me? It was sad, but I did love that episode.**

**Anyway, thank you so much for all the reviews last chapter. I love reading each and every one of them! They really motivate me. Some of you will be happy to know that I actually wrote the next three chapters all together, including this one. I'm excited to finish up this story. **

* * *

She was moving about, but in reality it was really just her body that was simply going through the motions. She changed into pajamas, washed her face, brushed her teeth, all the typical things she did on a regular basis. However, her facial expression remained completely stoic the entire time. It was as if she was just doing these things subconsciously. She wasn't putting any thought or effort into anything.

"_Look, Haley, I just came over here to tell you that we're done."_

She couldn't stop playing his words over and over again in her mind once she had finally curled up in her bed. It was like a nightmare that was stuck on repeat and there wasn't anything she could do to make it stop. She recalled back to how she had been frozen in place for at least a good fifteen minutes after his exit. Initially, she had been in shock. Actually, she was still in shock. It wasn't until she finally came to terms with the fact that he wasn't coming back that she had eventually made any efforts to move from her spot.

It wasn't until hours later, after constantly replaying back what had just happened, that her body had finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

The next day Haley had spent the whole morning and early afternoon with Brooke and Peyton. They spent some time participating in one of Brooke's favorite activities, shopping. Peyton liked to complain about it out loud, but they all knew that she secretly enjoyed it too deep down. Haley, on the other hand, didn't care what they were doing today. She was just grateful for the distraction. Thankfully, her best friends had plenty of things going on in their own lives to talk about that she was able to take her mind off of her own problems for a while.

It wasn't until later when Haley was alone that reality began to sink back in. Brooke had run off to find Lucas and since it was the weekend Peyton was headed off back to Jake's. Haley was sure that by the end of the semester the only thing left in the room of Peyton's would be her bed. She sighed as she turned her phone back on. She had opted to keep it off all day, not wanting to risk having to deal with any issues while she was out with her friends. Once the phone was on, she immediately regretted that decision. Too bad she couldn't go back a few seconds and not make the decision to turn it on. There were six missed calls, all with voicemails and about ten missed text messages all from the same number. She could not believe it. She instantly deleted them all without even giving it a second thought. To her disappointment, there wasn't anything from Nathan like she had secretly hoped there would be.

As if on cue, the phone began ringing in her hand. Any feelings of hope that she had immediately disappeared as soon as she saw the number flashing across the screen. Angrily, Haley picked up. "You promised you would stop calling!" She pointed out.

"_I just wanted to see if you were okay after how you ran off so quickly yesterday." _The voice on the other line rang through to her.

"Okay? No, I'm not okay! I told you that meeting you was going to be a bad idea and I was right. I should have followed my instincts like I originally wanted to, but no, you just wouldn't drop it and you kept harassing me and now everything is a mess and it is all your fault!" Haley rambled on.

"_I needed to see you."_

Haley scoffed. "You do not get to say that to me." She snarled.

"_Oh, come on, Hales."_

"_Don't_ call me that." She snapped. She had had enough of this. "This needs to stop." She insisted. "Do not call me. Do not text me. Do not try to see me. I mean it!" Without another word she hung up the phone and prayed that this time she would get her message across.

* * *

"You look like ass." Lucas called out as he entered the gym where he found Nathan tossing basketballs towards the hoop.

Nathan took a moment to glare at his brother before attempting to make another shot. Nothing. His game was seriously off today. He had not made a single shot since he'd been there, which was about seven in the morning. It was already the middle of the day. He couldn't be sure whether Lucas was talking about him missing his shots or physical appearance because he was sure neither looked great right now, the latter having to do with the lack of sleep he got the night before since he just tossed and turned all night long.

Angrily, Nathan chucked a basketball aimlessly towards the wall before making his way over to the bleachers where Lucas was waiting for him. He had contemplated ignoring Lucas altogether, but he knew that his brother wasn't going to just go away like he wanted him to.

"So, want to tell me what's going on?" Lucas asked as Nathan downed his Gatorade.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan played dumb.

Lucas gave him a look letting him know that he wasn't stupid. "Come on, Nate, you come storming into the room last night, you almost took my head off when I told you Haley was looking for you, you're gone early in the morning the one day you are given the morning off and when I got here you were missing all your shots, which is not like you at all. Something's definitely up."

Nathan sighed. Great, now his brother was going to want to talk about feelings and other stuff of that sort. He and his brother were just wired differently when it came to these kinds of situations. Lucas was one to talk everything out, while he on the other hand was more of the sit back and deal with it internally by himself kind of guy.

"It's nothing. I'm just having an off day." He lied. Truth was, he didn't know if he was ready to talk about what happened with Haley yet.

"Nathan, we both know that's not true."

Nathan cleared his throat. "I...I broke up with Haley last night." He blurted out.

"What?" Lucas was sure that he was hearing things wrong. There was no way that his brother just told him that he broke up with Haley. "Are you serious? What for? She's the best thing that ever happened to you, dumbass."

Nathan shook his head. "Look, I don't really want to talk about it right now. I just thought you should know in case you run into her. Plus, you weren't going to leave me alone until I told you and now I told you, so you can go."

"Like hell I'm going to go. What happened?" Lucas questioned again.

"I really don't want to get into it right now."

Lucas sighed. He couldn't force Nathan to talk about what happened with Haley. He knew he was lucky that he even got that much out of his brother. "Fine, but when you are-"

"I know." Nathan interrupted his brother before he got too mushy by letting him know that he was there for him when he wanted to talk about what was going on with Haley.

* * *

Despite Nathan not telling him what was going on, Lucas was determined to see if he could find out some more information on the whole situation. And if he wanted information on something, there was only one person to go to.

"Broody!" Brooke smiled as she opened the door to her room wide enough for him to come in. "Miss me already?" She asked. She had just left his room not too long ago.

"Always." He said before greeting her with a quick kiss. "But, actually, I'm here for another reason. I need some information."

Brooke kinked an eyebrow at him. This visit was definitely intriguing her already. "Information on what?" She questioned. Lucas wasn't usually the type to gossip.

"Nathan. What happened with him and Haley?" Lucas asked as he took a seat on his girlfriend's bed.

Brooke shook her head confused. "What are you talking about?"

Now it was Lucas's turn to be confused. "Well, I just came from the gym and Nathan told me that he and Haley broke up last night-."

"What?" Brooke practically screeched. "You did not just say what I think you said."

Lucas nodded to confirm that she was hearing things right. He didn't blame her, he had the same reaction when Nathan told him, minus the screeching part that is.

"That's impossible." Brooke stated as she began to pace around her room. "I was just with Haley this morning. She didn't say a single word." She took a moment to think about the events earlier that morning. "Oh my God, that's it! She didn't say a single word. She was so quiet today. I can't believe I didn't pick up on that." She announced her realization to Lucas.

"So, you don't know anything about this either then?" Lucas asked her.

Brooke shook her head furiously. "No. I can't believe Haley didn't say anything. I can't believe you found out before me!"

"Brooke, focus."

"Right." She said getting herself back on track to what was important. "Naley broke up." She repeated, allowing it to really sink in. "I wonder if Peyton knows..."

"Maybe you could call her." Lucas suggested. "Nathan's not saying anything about it at all."

"Well, she knows nothing either." Brooke told him once she hung up the phone with Peyton. "She was just as surprised as we both are. I have to go find Haley."

Lucas nodded. "That's a good idea. You'll probably get more out of her than I got from Nathan. Let me know what you find out." He spoke as they walked out the door together.

"I will." She promised. Brooke gave Lucas a quick peck on the lips before quickly making her way down the hall.

* * *

Brooke banged on the door as she stood outside Haley's room. She had knocked first, but there was no answer, that's when she resorted to the banging.

"Finally!" Brooke let out a few minutes later when the door slowly opened. She pushed passed Haley and let herself in the room.

"Hi to you too." Haley mumbled.

Brooke took a moment to take in her friend's physical appearance. Her hair was slightly a mess and her eyes looked tired. "What's going on?" She questioned.

Haley let out a yawn. "I was napping."

Brooke nodded. That was not the answer the was looking for. She walked over to Haley's bed and took a seat. She patted the spot next to her signaling to Haley that she wanted her to do the same.

"What's going on, friend?" Brooke repeated herself once Haley took the spot next to her. This time her voice was softer and more concerned.

With the way Brooke was speaking to her now, Haley could tell that her friend's question had another meaning to it. It could only mean one thing, she knew. Haley shrugged her shoulders and avoided making eye-contact. "Nothing really. How about you?" She decided to pretend not to know Brooke's agenda.

Brooke sighed. Haley was dodging her question. "Haley..." She started. She wasn't sure what approach to take with this. "I heard about you and Nathan."

There it was. Haley refrained from wincing at Brooke's words. She didn't like the sound of them. In all honesty, she didn't really know what to say, so she didn't say anything at all. She just kept quiet and began to play with her hands in her lap.

"How are you holding up?" Brooke spoke again once she realized that Haley wasn't going to respond.

"It's fine." Haley continued to stare at her lap. "I'm fine." She corrected.

This wasn't going exactly how Brooke had assumed it would. Haley seemed to be just as closed off as Lucas was saying Nathan was. Normally, Brooke was only interested in other people's break-ups for the gossip aspect of it, but this was Haley, her best friend, and this time Brooke genuinely wanted to know what had happened because it was the only way that she would be able to help her friend get through this.

"You know, it's okay if you're not. Fine, that is." Brooke put out there, hoping to get some kind of reaction.

"I am though." Haley insisted. She quickly glanced up and shot Brooke a small smile before returning her gaze back to her lap.

"Well, that's good." Brooke said even though she wasn't buying the 'I'm okay' act from Haley at the moment. "So, since you're fine with it, then you don't mind talking about what exactly happened, right?" She decided to try to push her friend a little bit. "What did happen?"

Haley could feel her body tense up for just a second. "I'm not really in the mood, Brookie."

Brooke nodded. It was just as she had suspected, Haley was totally lying about being fine with the break up. It hadn't even been 24 hours yet, how could she be? If this was real, than she needed to wallow. She needed to sulk. It was just a part of the process.

Haley got up from the bed and moved over to her desk and began rifling through her things while mumbling about she had a ton of work that needed to get done.

Brooke sighed as she watched her friend. She knew exactly what she was doing. Haley was trying to keep herself occupied so she didn't have to answer any more of her questions and probably to distract her mind from thinking about the situation at all.

"Haley, stop." Brooke said while pulling her friend back to the bed. "Sit." She reached over and picked her bag up off the floor and pulled some movies out of it. "Haley, I know what you're doing and honestly you just need to face what's going on if this thing is real. The first step is to wallow. Pick a movie." She directed as she got up and walked over to Haley's fridge and grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer. "We're going to eat ice cream and call for a pizza. We're not going to do anything else for the rest of the day except watch those movies have a good cry."

Haley shook her head vigorously. "I'd rather not. I really have a lot of work to get done. Besides, that is completely unnecessary anyway. Nobody is going to wallow or cry at stupid chick flicks that are totally unrealistic to begin with." She said while taking the ice cream from Brooke and putting it back in the freezer.

"Tutor-girl..." Brooke began as Haley sat down at her desk. She was hoping that the use of her nickname for her would soften Haley up a little bit.

"Brooke, please."

Brooke could hear the desperation in her best friend's voice. As much as it killed her to see Haley do this to herself, she knew there wasn't anything else that she could do until Haley was ready.

She left the movies on Haley's bed, but grabbed her bag. On her way out she stopped right behind Haley and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Call me if you need me."

Once Brooke was out in the hallway she immediately had her phone pressed against her ear. "Lucas, it's me."

* * *

"Nathan!" She ran to catch up with him. "Nathan, hey, can we talk?" Haley asked hopefully while placing one hand on her shoulder once she finally reached him.

He shrugged her hand away and didn't even glance her way before mumbling that he had to get to practice.

Hurt by his rejection, but also knowing that he was telling the truth, Haley tried not to let it show that she was bothered by it. "Well, afterwards then?" She suggested.

Nathan barely glanced at her while picking up his pace. "I don't have anything to say to you." He said coldly.

Haley took her bottom lip in between her teeth as she watched him walk further away from her. She couldn't even put into words how terrible she felt. Then, suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks. She had't cried. Her boyfriend broke up with her and there were no tears yet. Deep down she knew the answer. She knew that once she cried it would all become a little bit more real. And the last thing she wanted, for this situation to be real so she hadn't allowed herself to think about it and cry yet. And as soon as she realized that was when she began to feel the first tear drip down her cheek before she even knew she was crying. She quickly wiped away while hurriedly making her way across campus back to her dorm room. Obviously, she was ready to take Brooke's advice and wallow now.

She was walking so fast and her vision was blurred due to the tears forming in her eyes that she refused to let fall until she was in the comfort of her own bed. Almost back to her building, she accidentally collided with another body. "I'm so sorry." Haley apologized, wincing at how weak her own voice sounded.

"It's fine."

Haley took the time to notice it was none other than Rachel that she ran into. Ever since Rachel had stopped her to apologize about the how trying to steal her boyfriend thing, Haley hadn't really seen too much of the girl. She would see her from afar here and there, but they hadn't spoken or even acknowledged each others presence since then.

"Are you...um...are you okay?" Rachel asked slowly as she took in Haley's appearance. She had never been the type to pity others or be the shoulder to cry on so she wasn't really good at this kind of thing. The answer to her question was quite obvious though.

Haley shook her head. "Nathan and I broke up. Guess you got what you wanted after all." Haley spit out.

Haley had taken off before Rachel could even pick her jaw up off the ground. She was stunned to say the least. After all her best efforts Nathan and Haley had appeared to seem to be staying strong, but now here was Haley telling her that they were broken up. She couldn't believe it. Rachel knew there was only one thing left to do and that was to find Nathan Scott.


	28. Wallow

**Next chapter! Thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming :)**

* * *

Brooke waited impatiently for Lucas to get to her room. She called him over twenty minutes ago to come over so they could discuss more about Nathan and Haley's break-up. She couldn't believe that he was just taking his good old time. This was a serious matter! What could possibly be more important that was taking so long?

Impatience getting the best of her, Brooke dialed Lucas' number again. "Where the hell are you?" She demanded as soon as he picked up.

"_Hi to you too, Pretty Girl. I'm on my way over now."_

"Lucas! You were supposed to be here a half hour ago! When I said, 'pronto' I meant it, pal. Just get here quick." She ranted and hung up on him.

"Took you long enough." Brooke greeted about five minutes later when Lucas finally showed up.

"Brooke, I was busy."

She held up her hands. "I don't want to hear it. We have more important things to do than make excuses!"

Lucas shook his head. His girlfriend was one of a kind, that was for sure. "Such as?" He was honestly confused as to what this whole 'meeting' was about. She hadn't given him any details during their phone call.

Brooke sighed dramatically. "Lucas, we have to plan how we are going to get Naley back together, duh!"

"I don't know about this, Brooke..." He trailed off. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Nathan and Haley get back together, because he did, but he was never one for meddling in other people's lives. However, this was definitely Brooke's territory and he knew she wasn't going to just let him off the hook that easily.

She scoffed. "Oh please Lucas, they are meant to be together. They just need a little push in the right direction right now." She justified the idea of plotting against her friends. "So, let's start with what we know."

"Which is what exactly? We don't know anything except that they broke up." Lucas pointed out.

"Okay, well then change of plans. I'm going to go find Nathan." Brooke announced before taking off in another instant, leaving Lucas behind.

Brooke was in the middle of looking for Nathan when her cell phone began to ring and she noticed that it was Haley calling. "Hales, are you okay?" She asked as soon as she picked up, not even bothering to say hi.

Haley sniffled into the phone. "I think...that...I'm ready to wallow now, Brookie."

"I'm coming right over!" Brooke promised into the phone and took off in the opposite direction.

Once Brooke arrived at Haley's room she found her best friend already in bed with the movies she had left there. "_Titanic_, huh?" She spoke while glancing at the television.

"I just don't understand why she lets go! She promised him that she would never let go." Haley sobbed.

Brooke rubbed Haley's back as she asked her next question. "Hales, are you crying over _Titanic_ or are you crying over Nathan?"

"Both." Haley answered while shoving a big spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. Brooke was right, this was making her feel a little bit better. "I tried to talk to him." She admitted quietly. At first she wasn't sure that she was going to say anything about her earlier encounter with Nathan, but if she was going to talk to anyone about it than that person was definitely going to be Brooke.

"Really, when?"

"Right before this. Brooke, he hates me." She sobbed some more.

"That's not true and you know it," Brooke dismissed Haley's statement as soon as the words left her mouth. "I've never seen Nathan care about anyone before the way he does for you."

"He won't even talk to me! What am I supposed to do?" Haley asked. Brooke always had the best advice to give. Plus, it helped that she has known Nathan for a long time.

"First, you need to calm down." Brooke instructed while passing Haley a tissue to wipe away her tears. "I need you to tell me everything that happened. Think you're ready to talk about it?" She knew there was only so much that she could do without knowing any information. In order to help her friend, she needed details.

Haley shrugged her shoulders. "I guess." She mumbled. It wasn't something that she really wanted to do, but she knew it was better than keeping it all in. "Well it all started because Damien has been calling me constantly-"

"What?" Brooke interrupted. "Are you serious? Why didn't I know about this?" After becoming friends with Haley she had heard all about her ex-boyfriend. He sounded like such a loser if you asked her. She couldn't believe that Haley kept that from her. Honestly, she was a little hurt, but this wasn't about her right now.

"I thought I could handle it and that it would just go away, but he wouldn't stop calling or texting and leaving me messages. I answered a few times and he always insisted that he talk to me or meet me. I finally agreed to meet up with him in exchange for him to leave me alone." Haley revealed. She felt guilty that she had hidden this from her best friend this whole time.

Brooke looked shocked."You made a deal with Devil, huh?"

Haley nodded as she sniffled.

"Did Nathan know about this? About Damien calling you, I mean."

Haley shook her head. "No, I never told him. I didn't want him to get upset over nothing because to me it was nothing."

"Let me guess, this break up has something to do with this?" Brooke guessed. Just from hearing that little bit of information and knowing Nathan the way she did, she knew that once he found out it wouldn't be pretty.

Haley nodded. "Nathan showed up at the coffee shop where I was meeting Damien. I...we...nothing happened. We we're just talking. As soon as Nathan saw us though he took off. I looked for him everywhere. He was in my room waiting for me when I finally got back. He looked so hurt, Brooke. He didn't want to hear anything I had to say. That's when he said it. That's when he said that we were done."

Brooke didn't know what to say. There weren't many times when she was at a loss for words. She knew Nathan for a long time and she knew he was very guarded. She assumed his actions were only because he was feeling hurt.

"What did Damien want?" Brooke finally asked.

"To tell me that he transferred to UNC. He kept telling me that he missed me and that he was sorry about cheating. He was trying to convince me to get back together with him! Can you believe that?"

"Seriously? He's a scumbag. How could he even think that was a possibility? Who cares, all we have to do now is get Nathan to listen to you."

_If only it was going to be that simple, _Haley thought to herself. "I shouldn't have hid it from him. That was such a bad idea."

"What's done is done. All you can do is move forward from here." Brooke said positively, trying to keep her friend hopeful. She had faith they would be back together in no time.

* * *

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Nathan Scott."

"The one and only." He retorted.

She looked around and surveyed the gymnasium. It was completely empty besides him and the disarray of basketballs everywhere. "A little lonely in here, don't you think?" She questioned as she made her way further in the gym.

"Not anymore."

"Rumor has it you kinda suck at this now." She gestured to the hoop and then to the basketballs on the ground. "I heard you didn't make a single shot at practice this afternoon."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "People need to mind their own business and shut up." He growled. One lousy practice did not mean he sucked. He had much more talent than most of the guys on his team. There were only a couple others that were maybe just as good as he was. They could all kiss his ass for all he cared right now.

"That's the thing though, Nathan, people love to talk. Want to know what else they're talking about? They're saying that you are now back on the market. You're single? Is that true?" She interrogated him as she got closer to him.

"So what if it is?" He looked over finally making eye-contact with Rachel for the first time since she entered the gym.

She grinned. "Well then, I'd say I think it might be about time that you and I have a little 'talk' of our own."

* * *

Nathan got dressed after his shower and checked his phone. He sighed when he noticed there was a missed call and text from Haley. _Please call me back. We need to talk. I love you._ He knew they needed to talk and the sooner they did was probably better.

With that idea he headed down the hall to her room. Maybe she wouldn't be there and they didn't have to talk, but that way he could at least say he gave it a try, kind of... However, once he knocked on the door and came face to face with Haley he knew there was no such luck. There was no going back now. It was time to face the music.

"Nathan, hi." Haley greeted unable to mask her surprise. Yes, she had asked him to talk, but she hadn't actually thought that he was going to show up at her door and especially so soon.

"Hey." He mumbled back as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "So, um, can I come in?" He asked and nodded to the inside of her room with his head. Great, this was awkward already and they hadn't even begun to talk about the issue yet. Taking in her appearance he noticed that she looked how he felt, not so good.

"Oh yeah, of course." Haley pushed the door open wider to allow him entrance. "How are you?" She asked as she took a seat on her bed.

Nathan stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. "Look, Haley, I don't really feel like doing small talk." He said honestly. He wasn't trying to be mean, but he just wanted to get this over with.

"Right."

"I feel like I should apologize for shrugging you away yesterday. I never gave you a chance to say what you wanted to, so now's your chance."

Haley sighed not even knowing where to begin. "I don't know what you think you saw or what you think is or was going on, but Nathan, I promise you there is nothing there. He wanted to try to get back together with me-"

"That's real great." Nathan grumbled.

"But, I don't want that!" Haley spoke quickly as she saw Nathan getting more upset. "That's exactly what I told him too."

"How many times have you guys met with each other?" He questioned, frustrated with the whole situation.

"That was the only time, I swear."

"Why?" He didn't understand. There was no reason that he could think of that would make her meet up with an ex-boyfriend that cheated on her if they weren't mending things and getting back together.

Haley looked away from Nathan. "He kept calling and insisting that we talk. He said that if I did that he would stop. I just thought that I would go for a few minutes and then that would be it and that his calls would end." She revealed. She bit her bottom lip as she nervously awaited Nathan's reaction.

"Are you kidding me, Haley? The guy has been harassing you and you didn't even think that maybe you should tell me about it?" He couldn't believe this. He could kill this guy.

"I didn't want to upset you over nothing, especially during playoffs. I realize now that that wasn't the best idea. And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for all of it. I shouldn't have kept any of it a secret from you." She spoke as she got up and walked over to him until she was a few steps away. "But, Nathan, please you have to believe me that nothing is going on and I do not want anything to do with him. I love you."

Nathan pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. "Can you explain this then?"

"What is this?" She asked as she opened it. "Who gave you this?"

It was a small note that told Nathan that she was secretly hooking up with Damien behind Nathan's back. Then it went on to say that he could go to the coffee shop where she was meeting Damien so that Nathan could go see for himself that they would be together.

"I don't know. Someone left it downstairs at the desk for me."

Haley continued to stare at the note. This was complete bullshit. She had not been secretly meeting Damien "for a while now" like the note said. This one incident was the only time she had seen him since her little visit when she caught him cheating on her. Who ever wrote this was lying. Why would anyone do something like this? She had a really bad feeling about this.

"Nathan, I...I don't know what to say about this." She said handing the note back to him. "That's not true." She continued to deny.

"Haley, I believe you...I really do, but this note _was_ right when it said you were meeting him at the coffee shop..."

Suddenly it hit her. The only people who knew about that meeting was her and Damien, himself. Therefore, she concluded that it had to be him who was behind this. She wouldn't put it past him. Ever since she caught him cheating on her she saw a whole different side to him than the boy that she knew back home.

"He's the only person that could have done this. No one knew about me meeting him besides the two of us as far as I know." Haley mumbled her revelation out loud. "Damien did this, Nathan. It had to be him." She reached over and grabbed the note from Nathan to look at it one more time. "Wait a minute," Haley looked up at Nathan as she thought of something else. "you went to the coffee shop...you really thought I was cheating on you?"

Nathan shook his head. "No! I wanted to see if I could find the person that left me the note." He explained.

Haley began to feel a little hurt. She believed what Nathan was telling her, but she couldn't help feeling like somewhere within Nathan he really did go to see if she would be there.

"Why didn't you confront me with this?" She questioned, turning the tables on him now.

Nathan scoffed. "Why didn't you let me know about any of this Damien crap?" He challenged right back.

He was right. She should have been more honest with him about what was going on. But she was right too. Nathan should have showed her this note. If they had both done things differently they wouldn't be in this situation right now. And technically, they were still broken up.

"You wouldn't even hear me out when you saw me! Imagine how you would have reacted when I told you what was going on. I didn't want you to get worked up over nothing, Nathan. Playoffs have been stressful and I didn't want to add to it. Because that's exactly what it is to me, nothing!" She tried to explain herself. "Nathan, I always hear you out and you wouldn't even let me get a single word in edge wise."

He did feel slightly bad about that. Haley had been amazing with his problems, like his dad and the drugs. Nathan sighed. "I was hurt, Haley. I have never let anyone in as much as I have with you. I've never even been in love before you. I know I don't deserve you and that you are a much better person than I am. Why you stuck with me this long, I'll never understand. It just killed me to think that you would go back to that jerk and especially behind my back." He finally admitted some of his fears.

Haley softened at hearing his words. "Is that what you really think? That you don't deserve me?"

He nodded.

"Nathan, that is far from true. You're an amazing guy and you have a good heart. Yes, you have a temper and you can be stubborn, but so can I. We are good with each other." She reached out to grab his hand and placed it over her heart. "You're the only person who makes me feel like this. I love _you_ for who you are, Nathan. You are good enough. You're it for me."

Not being able to help himself, he pulled Haley closer to him and captured her lips with his own. Haley allowed herself to get lost in Nathan for a few minutes before pulling away.

"We still have a lot to talk about. I mean, are we broken up?" It killed her inside to ask that little question.

Nathan cupped Haley's cheek with one of his hands. "I didn't mean that, Hales. I just felt hurt and frustrated and it just came out. I couldn't sleep last night knowing I said that, but my pride wouldn't let me come back over her to make things right yet. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

"Only if you can forgive me too?" They were both to blame for this situation. Neither of them handled it correctly.

He placed another kiss on her lips. "Does that answer your question?" He asked as he rested his forehead against hers.

She nodded against him and shut her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop it."

Haley pulled away and looked up at him. "I don't want to have secrets from you, Nathan."

"Neither do I." He agreed.

He felt like an idiot, but he had never cared for someone so much the way he did with Haley. That was why when he did see her at the coffee shop with Damien like the note had predicted, he let his emotions get the best of him. He knew it was wrong. It only made him feel worse now knowing that he had been set up by that asshole.

Nathan groaned as he noticed that is was getting late out. It had been a very long day. "I have an early morning practice tomorrow. I better get going." He knew that he needed his sleep so that he could be on top of his game tomorrow. The whole Haley thing had been stuck in his mind and he hadn't been able to concentrate all during practice that afternoon. He missed every shot he took and that never happens. A couple of the guys even busted on him that he lost his touch and he better get it back before their next playoff game on Tuesday.

Haley closed the small distance between her and Nathan and wrapped her arms tightly around his body, hugging him to her. "I don't want you to go." She said into his chest. "Stay here."

"I have to be at practice at five am, Hales. I don't want to wake you up that early."

She shook her head. "I don't care," she mumbled. After everything that had occurred in the last day and a half, all she wanted was to fall asleep in Nathan's arms.

As he considered her request, he knew that he always did sleep better with Haley next to him anyway. Besides, if he went back to his room he probably wouldn't get right to sleep with Lucas there. His brother would be up his ass with all kinds of questions and accusations. That was not something that he wanted to deal with right now. He was exhausted enough as it was.

Without saying a word, he kicked off his shoes and began to get undressed before hopping into Haley's bed. "Are you coming or what?" He smirked as he propped himself up on one elbow to look at her.

Haley laughed as she went over to shut the light off before racing over to get wrapped up in is muscular arms.


End file.
